ICE Agents Smash Car Window to Detain Méndez Who Was Not Their Target

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in New Bedford, Massachusetts, smashed a car window with a hammer to seize Juan Francisco Méndez, although they were looking for a man with a completely different name.

His wife Marilu Domingo Ortiz recorded video of the encounter. Agents dragged both of them out of the car. They handcuffed Méndez and drove away with him.

Ortiz and her 9 year old son have protected asylum status due to fears of persecution if they return to Guatemala. Méndez was applying for derivative asylum, protected status available when a family member already asylum status. He worked in the seafood industry. He had been in the USA four years, had no criminal record, and was fingerprinted in December as part of his asylum application process.

His lawyers got a federal judge to rule that the government must provide 72 hours notice before moving Méndez. His lawyers said federal agents refused to look his asylum application.

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