A Guatemalan man living in New Bedford who was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last month is speaking out against his detainment.
Juan Francisco Mendez was the subject of an ICE operation where he was detained after agents smashed his car window with a hammer, according to the Associated Press. Mendez was inside the vehicle with his wife when the windows were broken, the Associated Press reported.
Mendez, 29, was released from custody on Thursday and currently out on bond — required to wear an ankle monitor, WCVB reported.
During a Spanish-language press conference on Friday, Mendez spoke about his detainment, calling it “traumatic,” according to WCVB.
“I am not a criminal. They unjustly detained me, without any charge,” Mendez said. “I just want to give my family safety and stability, just like many other immigrants.”
Ondine Galvez Sniffin, Mendez’s attorney, said her client has no criminal record and has a pending immigration case to obtain asylum, WCVB reports.
Galvez Sniffin said that Mendez’s asylum claim has not been approved yet. Mendez’s wife, Marilu Domingo Ortiz, has been approved for asylum, the lawyer said.
“This is completely off the charts,” Galvez Sniffin said. “As her husband, he derives the same status that she has, so he is also protected from being removed back to the country.”
In an interview with the Associated Press, Galvez Sniffin said that the ICE agents claimed they were seeking another man with a different name before they dragged Mendez and his wife out of the car.
Domingo said she felt “scared” when ICE broke into their car, never expecting that a member of her family would be detained like this, the Associated Press reported.
“We came here to do honest work. To fight for our family,” Ortiz said through a translator. “What they did, or what they’re doing right now, no, it’s not fair. We don’t deserve that treatment.”
ICE, however, said Mendez is in the United States illegally, according to WCVB. “During the course of his arrest, he refused to comply with officers’ instructions and resisted apprehension,” ICE said in a statement.
Mendez and his wife live in New Bedford with their 9-year-old son, according to WCVB.
ICE arrests in Massachusetts are continuing to play out in public.
One of the more recent arrests took place in Worcester.
Rosane Ferreira-De Oliveira, a Brazilian mother of three, was arrested in the middle of Eureka Street on May 8.
ICE agents detained Ferreira-De Oliveira as a crowd of more than 30 people approached and shouted at the agents, demanding to see a warrant. She is currently being held in a facility in Rhode Island.
In Chelsea on Mother’s Day, ICE agents broke through an SUV window as a family left church together, NBC10 reported. A man was ripped from the vehicle, thrown to the ground, handcuffed and arrested, according to NBC10.
During the arrest, the man could be heard asking why ICE was arresting him, saying he wasn’t resisting, according to NBC10.
