Caught on video: ICE agents smash car window in New Bedford arrest. Was it the wrong man?
NEW BEDFORD — A 29-year-old Guatemalan man's arrest April 14 in New Bedford by ICE was caught in part by a dramatic video taken by his wife, including their car window being smashed to gain access.
Juan Francisco Méndez was driving with his wife, Marilú, when they were hemmed in by cars and approached by ICE agents on Tallman Street.
They would not get out of the car, asking to wait until their attorney could arrive. One of the agents, whose vest read "POLICE," used a sledgehammer-like implement to break in the window. They were dragged out, Marilú said, according to their attorney.
Her husband was taken into custody. The incident took about 30 minutes.
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Their attorney, Ondine Galvez Sniffin, said they called her at about 9 a.m., and she arrived about 9:30 a.m. just as they were pulling away with Méndez.
'He yelled out to me, 'ayúdame,' help me. So I got to hear him, but it was too late.'
She added there was no warrant presented. Her client has 'absolutely no record that I am aware of in the state or in the country.'
The couple are living in New Bedford and have a small child who was not with them.
She said the use of force was 'absolutely' excessive.
Sniffin said, 'They indicated they were looking for some guy by the name of Antonio, which is not my client. There would be no reasonable cause for them to use that level of violence.'
Her client is currently being held at Strafford County Correctional Facility in Dover, New Hampshire.
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'Hopefully, he'll have a hearing soon. My understanding is he has one coming up in May, and that's when we'll ask for bond. We'll try to get something sooner for him, but right now that's as much as I know. He will be incarcerated until the hearing.'
That's according to her client, she added, who was told that by officials.
She was unable to find him in ICE's system. In the video, one agent's vest read "FBI."
'When I tried to track them down, I called ICE. They said 'We don't have him in our system.' They said 'Why don't you call ATF and the FBI.' I called ATF and the FBI in Boston, and they said call ICE,' she said.
Kristen Setera, FBI public information officer, said, 'This was an ICE ERO Boston arrest.'
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sniffin is an immigration attorney and had been representing Méndez.
'He has a process underway. We have filed paperwork for him. His wife was granted asylum status by an immigration judge, so she is a legal asylee and as her husband, he derives benefits. We were in the process of finalizing his benefits. The paperwork has already been submitted,' Sniffin said.
She hasn't done many detainment cases in the past because they generally involve criminal records, she said.
'But lately they've been picking up my clients who don't have criminal records. So, I've kind of been forced into doing more detention work.'
New Bedford police were asked to fill out a report but refused at first, she said. 'They said it's a federal enforcement action. We can't get involved.'
They agreed to a report regarding the damage to the couple's vehicle after 'significant argument.'
'I was insisting. They said, no. You can go to the federal agency for that report. I said, how? You want her to contact the FBI, the ATF? We don't even know what federal agency it is. I said she needs this at least for her insurance company so she can have the damage covered. That's when they said, fine. Here's a report number. You can pick it up at the police station.'
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: ICE arrest in New Bedford: Attorney says wrong man, excessive force
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