Venezuelan man tackled by federal agents in courthouse arrest
STORY: :: New Hampshire Judicial Branch
:: Video shows federal agents arresting a Venezuelan man at a New Hampshire courthouse
:: The man was at the court for a misdemeanor arraignment, the Boston Globe says
:: February 20, 2025
:: Nashua, New Hampshire
Surveillance video provided by the New Hampshire Judicial Branch to Reuters showed a man wearing a sweatshirt bearing the letters "ATF" tapping Arnuel Marquez Colmenarez on the shoulder as he prepared to exit an elevator. ATF stands for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Marquez Colmenarez then turned to face the man, before turning around again to leave the elevator, the footage showed.
The man in the ATF sweatshirt and another agent then attempted to grab Marquez Colmenarez, and chased him into a lobby, the footage showed. An older man walking with a cane fell to the ground as the two agents tackled Marquez Colmenarez while arresting him, the video showed.
The ATF did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Marquez Colmenarez could not be reached for comment.
President Donald Trump has enlisted thousands of federal law enforcement officials from multiple agencies to take on new work as immigration enforcers.
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Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
ICE arrested an Albuquerque man. He ended up in the hospital. Now no one knows where he is.
Jesus Jose Carrero-Marquez, 30, right, and his family pose during a recent graduation celebration for their daughter at an Albuquerque school. Carrero-Marquez was hospitalized after a federal immigration law enforcement arrest May 31 in Albuquerque's South Valley. After being detained somewhere in Texas, his wife hasn't heard from him, and records show he's no longer in custody. (Photo courtesy Daniela Marina Diaz-Ortiz) Last Saturday around 8 a.m., as she followed her husband to a mechanic in Albuquerque's South Valley, Daniela Marina Diaz-Ortiz says she and her 5-year-old daughter watched, terrified, as federal immigration agents leapt out of four SUVs and pulled her husband to the ground. 'They stopped him and took him out of the car. They didn't ask him for any identification. They didn't tell him he was under arrest or anything like that,' she told Source in Spanish in an interview outside her home Monday afternoon. 'They just pulled him out of the car, threw him on the ground, putting their feet on his back and head. At that moment, they also lifted him up by his neck and forced him into the truck.' Jesus Jose Carrero-Marquez, 30, was hospitalized at the Presbyterian Hospital emergency room for hours, potentially due to injuries sustained in the arrest, his wife and others told Source NM. Agents who waited outside Carrero-Marquez's room told hospital workers that the detainee was a violent gang member, according to New Mexico Rep. Eleanor Chavez (D-Albuquerque), who advocates on behalf of working conditions for healthcare workers across the state. Chavez said she learned of the arrest from a hospital worker and relayed to Source what the worker told her. Diaz-Ortiz adamantly denied her husband is violent or a criminal or in a gang. Source's review of state and federal criminal records for Carrero-Marquez showed only a local traffic ticket in January. Instead, Diaz-Ortiz said he is a father and husband who makes a living as a Doordash delivery driver, while seeking asylum on behalf of himself and his family after being injured in a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro several years ago. The lawyer representing his appeal did not respond to requests for comment. Diaz-Ortiz showed Source photos the family is using in its asylum appeal that show what appear to be injuries to Carrero-Marquez's leg and back, which left him with a punctured lung and a limp, she said. Source could not determine why federal immigration authorities arrested Carrero-Marquez on May 31; why they purportedly took him to the hospital; where he is being detained; or whether he's been deported. ICE offers Albuquerque immigrant reprieve — for now A spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to questions from Source about Carrero-Marquez's arrest, their alleged use of force or his current location. A spokesperson said the agency would respond but had not as of publication time after multiple requests. Source will update the story as necessary. Advocates, including Chavez and immigration lawyers, have tried since May 31 to find him, including enlisting the help of U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich's office. A Heinrich spokesperson said the office had made efforts to find him but that 'ICE is not providing timely or helpful responses to our inquiries.' A recent change to Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention policies has made it difficult to determine whether someone is in jail and, if so, at which detention center, said Sophia Genovese, a lawyer for the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center who joined efforts this week to find Carrero-Marquez. Following his arrest, Carrero-Marquez called his wife from detention somewhere in El Paso, Diaz-Ortiz said, and described severe pain in his head and back from the arrest, she said. The last time she spoke to him, on Sunday, her husband 'told me that they were taking him away, that he didn't know where they were going, that he hadn't seen a judge to decide whether he would be ordered to leave the country or not.' When she hadn't heard from him again on Tuesday, Diaz-Ortiz told Source she felt certain he was gone. 'I believe my husband has already been deported,' she said, because otherwise, 'I believe he would have called me.' On Wednesday morning, Diaz-Ortiz said she woke up after a long night of making deliveries to check ICE detention records for updates, which she's done multiple times a day since his arrest. She discovered, and Source confirmed, he was no longer listed in custody as of Wednesday morning. And he still had not called her, she told Source. 'I still don't know anything about what happened to him,' she said. Carrero-Marquez's arrest follows the pattern of recent ICE detentions, which leave little trail for lawyers or advocates to follow, said Genovese with the Immigration Law Center. After being arrested and hospitalized, Carrero-Marquez called his wife from his hospital bed, she said. But hospital workers would neither confirm he was there nor allow her to see or speak with him in the emergency room, she said. While the hospital would not confirm that Carrero-Marquez was hospitalized, a spokesperson said it has 'Do Not Announce' protocols as part of federal patient privacy regulations and that patients may be under that protocol 'for many reasons.' The hospital staff had no choice but to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, the hospital worker told Chavez, the state representative. A spokesperson for Presbyterian told Source that, while it cannot discuss specific patients, it is legally required to cooperate with all law enforcement agencies. 'We do not have policies designed to help or hinder any law enforcement or other governmental agencies,' a spokesperson said in an emailed statement Friday. Confusion reigns in New Mexico's militarized border zone The officers took Carrero-Marquez to jail, likely to the Torrance County Detention Center in Estancia, Genovese said, though jail records never showed him being held there. Diaz-Ortiz was the first person to hear from him, a few days after the arrest, when he called from El Paso, she said. Before Wednesday, when his name disappeared completely, ICE records didn't say where he's being held, and instead only said 'Texas,' instead of a facility name and address. According to Genovese, he could have been held at either the El Paso Service Processing Center or at a nearby former Border Patrol holding facility intended for short-term use that ICE recently took over. The ICE takeover of the holding facility has resulted in confusion and difficulty for lawyers seeking to speak to their clients. It also means no one knows where detainees are being held. 'This is like a new trend, where we're seeing a lot of people have the exact same situation where… it just says, 'Texas.' It doesn't provide a detention facility,' Genovese said. As for why he might be in jail in the first place, Genovese said ICE agents increasingly have less discretion about detaining people who, like Carrero-Marquez, are appealing denials of asylum claims. According to online records and a document provided by Diaz-Ortiz, a judge denied Carrero-Marquez's asylum request in February. Records also show he is appealing that denial, and that the appeal is pending. While he has not yet received a final removal order, ICE has discretion to detain him during 'removal proceedings,' his current status., Genovese said. That said, given the sheer number of people currently in 'removal proceedings' with pending appeals, ICE typically would not find and detain people until a final removal order is issued, Genovese said. New Mexico sheriffs respond to federal 'sanctuary' list ICE, 'for very real capacity reasons, given the limited number of beds nationwide and the millions of cases pending at immigration court, frequently exercised discretion in the form of releasing people on their own recognizance pending their removal proceedings,' Genovese said But President Donald Trump's push for mass deportation has removed ICE's choice about when and where to arrest people, she said. 'It's changed now under the Trump administration, where there is a mandate, a requirement, that ICE make thousands of arrests per day,' she said. 'And they are targeting people with active removal proceedings, many of whom do not have any sort of interaction with law enforcement which would trigger mandatory detention.' Carrero-Marquez's daughter recently celebrated graduation at a South Valley school. His wife shared a picture showing the three of them smiling, with her in a graduation gown. Since witnessing her father's arrest, the girl is depressed, Diaz-Ortiz said, and afraid of anyone who looks like a police officer. Diaz-Ortiz doesn't know whether ICE will come next for her or her daughter, whether she should enroll her daughter back in school or what to do next. But she still has to work. On Tuesday, she took her daughter along with her as she made deliveries for DoorDash, she said, suddenly the sole caregiver and sole income earner in her family. Amid the confusion and uncertainty about her husband's whereabouts, Diaz-Ortiz said she is terrified about the prospect of him being deported back to Venezuela due to his injuries and the government's repressive policies. 'In Venezuela you can't speak freely or say what you want because they attack you,' she said. 'We came here for a better future.' 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Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Immigration officers intensify arrests in courthouse hallways on a fast track to deportation
SEATTLE (AP) — A transgender woman who says she was raped by Mexican cartel members told an immigration judge in Oregon that she wanted her asylum case to continue. A Venezuelan man bluntly told a judge in Seattle, 'They will kill me if I go back to my country.' A man and his cousin said they feared for their lives should they return to Haiti. Many asylum-seekers, like these three, dutifully appeared at routine hearings before being arrested outside courtrooms last week, a practice that has jolted immigration courts across the country as the White House works toward its promise of mass deportations. The large-scale arrests that began in May have unleashed fear among asylum-seekers and immigrants accustomed to remaining free while judges grind through a backlog of 3.6 million cases, typically taking years to reach a decision. Now they must consider whether to show up and possibly be detained and deported, or skip their hearings and forfeit their bids to remain in the country. The playbook has become familiar. A judge will grant a government lawyer's request to dismiss deportation proceedings. Moments later, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers — often masked — arrest the person in the hallway and put them on a fast track to deportation, called 'expedited removal.' President Donald Trump sharply expanded fast-track authority in January, allowing immigration officers to deport someone without first seeing a judge. Although fast-track deportations can be put on hold by filing a new asylum claim, people can be swiftly removed if they fail an initial screening. 'People are more likely to give up' The transgender woman from Mexico, identified in court filings as O-J-M, was arrested outside the courtroom after a judge granted the government's request to dismiss her case. She said in a court filing that she crossed the border in September 2023, two years after being raped by cartel members because of her gender, and had regularly checked in at ICE offices, as instructed. O-J-M was taken to an ICE facility in Portland before being sent to a detention center in Tacoma, Washington, where attorney Kathleen Pritchard said in court filings she was unable to schedule a nonrecorded legal phone call for days. 'It's an attempt to disappear people,' said Jordan Cunnings, one of O-J-M's attorneys and legal director of the nonprofit Innovation Law Lab. 'If you're subject to this horrible disappearance suddenly, and you can't get in touch with your attorney, you're away from friends and family, you're away from your community support network, that's when people are more likely to give up and not be able to fight their cases.' O-J-M was eligible for fast-track deportation because she was in the United States less than two years, but that was put on hold when she expressed fear of returning to Mexico, according to a declaration filed with the court by ICE deportation officer Chatham McCutcheon. She will remain in the United States at least until her initial screening interview for asylum, which had not been scheduled at the time of the court filing, the officer said. The administration is 'manipulating the court system in bad faith to then initiate expedited removal proceedings,' said Isa Peña, director of strategy for the Innovation Law Lab. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not respond to questions about the number of cases dismissed since last month and the number of arrests made at or near immigration courts. It said in a statement that most people who entered the U.S. illegally within the past two years are subject to expedited removals. 'If they have a valid credible fear claim, they will continue in immigration proceedings, but if no valid claim is found, aliens will be subject to a swift deportation,' the statement said. The Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review, which runs the immigration courts, declined to comment. ICE has used increasingly aggressive tactics in Los Angeles and elsewhere while under orders from Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, to increase immigration arrests to at least 3,000 a day. Tension in the hallways In Seattle, a Venezuelan man sat in a small waiting room, surrounded by others clutching yellow folders while a half-dozen masked, plainclothes ICE officers lined the halls. Protesters held signs in Spanish, including one that read, "Keep faith that love and justice will prevail in your favor,' and peppered officers with insults, saying their actions were immoral. Judge Kenneth Sogabe granted the government's request to dismiss the Venezuelan man's deportation case, despite his objections that he and his wife faced death threats back home. 'I want my case to be analyzed and heard. I do not agree with my case being dismissed,' the man said through an interpreter. Sogabe, a former Defense Department attorney who became a judge in 2021, told the man that Department of Homeland Security lawyers could dismiss a case it brought but he could appeal within 30 days. He could also file an asylum claim. 'When I leave, no immigration officer can detain me, arrest me?' the man asked. 'I can't answer that,' the judge replied. 'I do not have any connection with the enforcement arm.' The man stepped out of the courtroom and was swarmed by officers who handcuffed him and walked him to the elevators. Later that morning, a Haitian man was led away in tears after his case was dismissed. For reasons that were not immediately clear, the government didn't drop its case against the man's cousin, who was released with a new hearing date. The pair entered the United States together last year using an online, Biden-era appointment system called CBP One. Trump ended CBP One and revoked two-year temporary status for those who used it. Alex Baron, a lawyer for the pair, said the arrests were a scare tactic. 'Word gets out and other people just don't come or don't apply for asylum or don't show up to court. And when they don't show up, they get automatic removal orders,' he said. At least seven others were arrested outside the Seattle courtrooms that day. In most cases, they didn't speak English or have money to hire a lawyer. A judge resists In Atlanta, Judge Andrew Hewitt challenged an ICE lawyer who moved to dismiss removal cases against several South and Central Americans last week and put them on a fast track to deportation. Hewitt, a former ICE attorney who was appointed a judge in 2023, was visibly frustrated. He conceded to a Honduran man that the government's reasoning 'seems a bit circular and potentially inefficient' because he could show he's afraid to return to his country and be put right back in immigration court proceedings. The Honduran man hadn't filed an asylum claim and Hewitt eventually signed what he called a 'grossly untimely motion" to dismiss the case, advising the man of his right to appeal. He denied a government request to dismiss the case of a Venezuelan woman who had filed an asylum application and scheduled a hearing for January 2027. Hewitt refused to dismiss the case of a young Ecuadorian woman, telling the government lawyer to put the request in writing for consideration at an August hearing. Immigration officers waited near the building's exit with handcuffs and took her into custody. ___ Rush reported from Portland, Oregon, and Brumback from Atlanta.
San Francisco Chronicle
4 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Immigration officers intensify arrests in courthouse hallways on a fast track to deportation
SEATTLE (AP) — A transgender woman who says she was raped by Mexican cartel members told an immigration judge in Oregon that she wanted her asylum case to continue. A Venezuelan man bluntly told a judge in Seattle, 'They will kill me if I go back to my country.' A man and his cousin said they feared for their lives should they return to Haiti. Many asylum-seekers, like these three, dutifully appeared at routine hearings before being arrested outside courtrooms last week, a practice that has jolted immigration courts across the country as the White House works toward its promise of mass deportations. The large-scale arrests that began in May have unleashed fear among asylum-seekers and immigrants accustomed to remaining free while judges grind through a backlog of 3.6 million cases, typically taking years to reach a decision. Now they must consider whether to show up and possibly be detained and deported, or skip their hearings and forfeit their bids to remain in the country. The playbook has become familiar. A judge will grant a government lawyer's request to dismiss deportation proceedings. Moments later, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers — often masked — arrest the person in the hallway and put them on a fast track to deportation, called 'expedited removal.' President Donald Trump sharply expanded fast-track authority in January, allowing immigration officers to deport someone without first seeing a judge. Although fast-track deportations can be put on hold by filing a new asylum claim, people can be swiftly removed if they fail an initial screening. 'People are more likely to give up' The transgender woman from Mexico, identified in court filings as O-J-M, was arrested outside the courtroom after a judge granted the government's request to dismiss her case. She said in a court filing that she crossed the border in September 2023, two years after being raped by cartel members because of her gender, and had regularly checked in at ICE offices, as instructed. O-J-M was taken to an ICE facility in Portland before being sent to a detention center in Tacoma, Washington, where attorney Kathleen Pritchard said in court filings she was unable to schedule a nonrecorded legal phone call for days. 'It's an attempt to disappear people,' said Jordan Cunnings, one of O-J-M's attorneys and legal director of the nonprofit Innovation Law Lab. 'If you're subject to this horrible disappearance suddenly, and you can't get in touch with your attorney, you're away from friends and family, you're away from your community support network, that's when people are more likely to give up and not be able to fight their cases.' O-J-M was eligible for fast-track deportation because she was in the United States less than two years, but that was put on hold when she expressed fear of returning to Mexico, according to a declaration filed with the court by ICE deportation officer Chatham McCutcheon. She will remain in the United States at least until her initial screening interview for asylum, which had not been scheduled at the time of the court filing, the officer said. The administration is 'manipulating the court system in bad faith to then initiate expedited removal proceedings,' said Isa Peña, director of strategy for the Innovation Law Lab. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not respond to questions about the number of cases dismissed since last month and the number of arrests made at or near immigration courts. It said in a statement that most people who entered the U.S. illegally within the past two years are subject to expedited removals. 'If they have a valid credible fear claim, they will continue in immigration proceedings, but if no valid claim is found, aliens will be subject to a swift deportation,' the statement said. The Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review, which runs the immigration courts, declined to comment. ICE has used increasingly aggressive tactics in Los Angeles and elsewhere while under orders from Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, to increase immigration arrests to at least 3,000 a day. Tension in the hallways In Seattle, a Venezuelan man sat in a small waiting room, surrounded by others clutching yellow folders while a half-dozen masked, plainclothes ICE officers lined the halls. Protesters held signs in Spanish, including one that read, "Keep faith that love and justice will prevail in your favor,' and peppered officers with insults, saying their actions were immoral. Judge Kenneth Sogabe granted the government's request to dismiss the Venezuelan man's deportation case, despite his objections that he and his wife faced death threats back home. 'I want my case to be analyzed and heard. I do not agree with my case being dismissed,' the man said through an interpreter. Sogabe, a former Defense Department attorney who became a judge in 2021, told the man that Department of Homeland Security lawyers could dismiss a case it brought but he could appeal within 30 days. He could also file an asylum claim. 'When I leave, no immigration officer can detain me, arrest me?' the man asked. 'I can't answer that,' the judge replied. 'I do not have any connection with the enforcement arm.' The man stepped out of the courtroom and was swarmed by officers who handcuffed him and walked him to the elevators. Later that morning, a Haitian man was led away in tears after his case was dismissed. For reasons that were not immediately clear, the government didn't drop its case against the man's cousin, who was released with a new hearing date. The pair entered the United States together last year using an online, Biden-era appointment system called CBP One. Trump ended CBP One and revoked two-year temporary status for those who used it. Alex Baron, a lawyer for the pair, said the arrests were a scare tactic. 'Word gets out and other people just don't come or don't apply for asylum or don't show up to court. And when they don't show up, they get automatic removal orders,' he said. At least seven others were arrested outside the Seattle courtrooms that day. In most cases, they didn't speak English or have money to hire a lawyer. A judge resists In Atlanta, Judge Andrew Hewitt challenged an ICE lawyer who moved to dismiss removal cases against several South and Central Americans last week and put them on a fast track to deportation. Hewitt, a former ICE attorney who was appointed a judge in 2023, was visibly frustrated. He conceded to a Honduran man that the government's reasoning 'seems a bit circular and potentially inefficient' because he could show he's afraid to return to his country and be put right back in immigration court proceedings. The Honduran man hadn't filed an asylum claim and Hewitt eventually signed what he called a 'grossly untimely motion" to dismiss the case, advising the man of his right to appeal. He denied a government request to dismiss the case of a Venezuelan woman who had filed an asylum application and scheduled a hearing for January 2027. Hewitt refused to dismiss the case of a young Ecuadorian woman, telling the government lawyer to put the request in writing for consideration at an August hearing. Immigration officers waited near the building's exit with handcuffs and took her into custody.
