Video shows Venezuelan man tackled by federal agents in New Hampshire court
Video shows Venezuelan man tackled by federal agents in New Hampshire court
Show Caption
Hide Caption
Venezuelan man tackled by federal agents at New Hampshire courthouse
In February, a Venezuelan man was tackled by federal agents when he arrived at a courthouse for misdemeanor charges.
When 30-year-old Arnuel Marquez Colmenarez arrived at the courthouse in Nashua, New Hampshire on Feb. 20, he was set to appear for his arraignment on misdemeanor charges. But on the way to the courtroom, he was taken away by federal agents, missing his arraignment completely.
In a video released by the New Hampshire Judicial Branch, Colmenarez is seen entering the Nashua Circuit Court, going through security and into an elevator, where he was followed by two men.
One of the two men tapped Colmenarez's shoulder and identified themselves as a federal agent. As Colmenarez tried to leave the elevator, the video shows he was tackled to the ground, knocking an elderly bystander to the ground in the process.
Colmenarez, who was only steps from the courtroom, never made his arraignment and instead, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee locator, is currently being held at the Rio Grande Processing Center in Laredo, Texas.
A missed court date
According to the Boston Globe, Colmenarez was being arraigned in court for allegedly driving with a blood alcohol concentration more than twice the legal limit on Feb. 9.
The Globe also said Colmenarez was accused of driving without a license and failing to provide information after being involved in a car crash.
According to a police report written by a Hudson Police Department officer and obtained local news media, agents like the ones seen in the video were working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and ICE to detain people who were showing up to court for either arrangements or hearings.
USA TODAY has contacted the Hudson Police Department for more information. The Department of Homeland Security and ATF Boston did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment on Tuesday.
'Unacceptable': Witnesses describe incident
Witnesses who spoke to WMUR said the altercation was sudden and violent. In the video, an elderly man using a cane was knocked down as Colmenarez was tackled to the ground; the man suffered minor injuries.
"Why is he so violently hustled to the ground the way he was in such an unsafe manner for him and everyone else around him?" the witness told WMUR. "Why? What was the urgency?"
"Unacceptable. That's all I could think of," the witness told WMUR. "I was just so furious. I would not expect this in a courtroom in America."
Others detained in courtrooms
Other incidents like Colmenarez's have recently happened. On March 31, Wilson Martell-Lebron from the Dominican Republic was taken by ICE agents as he appeared in a court in Boston.
Martell-Lebron was on trial for allegedly making false statements on his driver's license application. Witnesses described how plainclothes agents surrounded Martell-Lebron and whisked him away in an unmarked truck.
Days later, Boston Municipal Court Judge Mark Summerville ordered a contempt charge against ICE agent Brian Sullivan, but that charge was dropped by a federal judge on Tuesday.
Contributing: Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
38 minutes ago
- New York Post
Congress demands investigation into billionaire funding radical groups, including one linked to LA riots
A shadowy US billionaire who is bankrolling radicals, including groups involved in this week's riots in Los Angeles, faces being hauled before a Congressional committee, according to a Republican lawmaker. China-based Neville Roy Singham will be called to testify about his funding of myriad non-profits including radical anti-Israel and Marxist groups. They include the Party for Liberation and Socialism, which has been heavily involved in protest against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Los Angeles this week, although there is no evidence they have been directly involved in any of the violence which has erupted there. Advertisement 6 The Party for Socialism and Liberation was among the radical left-wing groups that helped organize the riots against ICE in Los Angeles this week. Toby Canham for NY Post 'If he refuses to appear, he will be subpoenaed, and if he ignores that he will be referred to the DOJ for prosecution,' said Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna in a post on X in all capital letters earlier this week. The congressional committee will be looking at Singham's links to the Chinese Communist Party, according to Luna. Advertisement 6 Radical philanthropists Jodie Evans (center) and husband Roy Singham attend the 2016 TriBeCa film fstival with film producer Abigail Disney. WireImage 6 Elias Rodriguez, the suspect in the murder of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington DC, participated in an anti-police brutality demonstration organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation in 2017. Katie Kalisher via Storyful In April, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary urged the Department of Justice to investigate the People's Forum and Code Pink, leftist activist groups affiliated with Singham and his wife Jodie Evans. Born in Chicago, the software entrepreneur and his activist wife now live in Shanghai but still funnel plenty of money back to the US. Advertisement Although they deny working for the Chinese government, they share offices with the Maku Group, a propaganda network which promotes the Chinese Communist Party abroad. 6 Jodie Evans is a co-founder of Code Pink, a women's anti-war group that also promotes North Korea. Getty Images for MoveOn 'Evidence suggests that The People's Forum and Code Pink have been funded and influenced by … Singham and the communist Chinese government, both of which are foreign principals. 'The evidence also suggests that The People's Forum and Code Pink have engaged in political activities that directly advance the communist Chinese government's political and policy interests,' said committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Advertisement 6 Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna has demanded that Neville Singham appear before her Oversight Committee to answer questions about his links to the Chinese Communist Party. AP Last year, the House Ways and Committee asked the IRS to revoke the exempt status for the People's Forum, a Manhattan-based non-profit financed by Singham. That group helped organize anti-Israel demonstrations in the city a day after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that left 1,200 Israelis dead. Some of the group's members were also behind the violent demonstrations at an encampment for Gaza at Columbia University last year. 'The Singham network operates as a coordinated movement incubator, a term used by the People's Forum itself,' said Alex Goldberg, senior advisor to the National Contagion Research Institute, a think tank that tracks disinformation on social media platforms. 'It combines media, publishing and organizing under one roof.' Most of the groups linked to Singham operate out of a Chelsea, New York, office and cafe where People's Forum regularly offers courses with titles such as 'Racial Capitalism' and 'Spanish for Social Justice.' 6 The protests against ICE in Los Angeles this week were partly organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Toby Canham for NY Post Among the Singham-linked non-profits are BreakThrough News and a radical book publishing company, 1804 Books. Advertisement 'These groups do not operate independently,' Goldberg told The Post. 'They share leadership, funding, and a unified ideological mission closely aligned with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a revolutionary Marxist organization, expanding its presence on college campuses and in major cities.' The Party for Socialism and Liberation was recently tied to Elias Rodriguez, the suspect in the shooting deaths of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington DC last month. In 2017, Rodriguez attended a police brutality demonstration as part of the radical socialist group, which immediately distanced itself from him in the wake of the shooting. Singham, 71, has not always been against the accumulation of capital. He is the founder and former chair of Thoughworks, a tech consulting company which he sold to a private equity firm in 2017 for $785 million. 'Roy Singham is incredibly charismatic,' said a source who did not want to be identified. Advertisement Evans, 70, co-founded the anti-war group Code Pink, and sits on the board of the People's Forum. She is the co-author of 'China is not our enemy,' written with Mikaela Nhondo Erskog, a researcher at another group funded by Singham. In another extreme example, Evans and another activist with Code Pink traveled to North Korea in 2015 as part of a delegation of 'Women Cross DMZ,' a pro-North Korean non-profit based in Hawaii.
Yahoo
43 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Barron Trump's friend Bo Loudon claims he got ICE to detain TikTok star Khaby Lame
Bo Loudon, the purported 'best friend' of Barron Trump, has claimed he is responsible for the arrest of the world's most famous TikToker who was detained by ICE and later forced to leave the U.S. The MAGA, Gen-Z influencer, who has been pictured numerous times with the president and his son, said he had 'personally taken action' to have Khaby Lame deported. 'No one is above the law!' he wrote in a series of posts on X, later adding: 'I've been working with the patriots at President Trump's DHS to make this happen. He was just ARRESTED in Vegas and is in ICE CUSTODY!' Despite a community note on the post calling Loudon out for false information, ICE confirmed that Lame had been detained at the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas for violating the terms of his visa on June 6. The 25-year-old star had entered the U.S. on April 30 on a temporary visa. A spokesperson for ICE said he had been granted 'voluntary departure' following his arrest and had since left the country. 'No one works faster than President Trump's administration!' Loudon wrote, following news of Lame's departure. ICE has not confirmed Loudon's involvement publicly, and did not provide further information when contacted by The Independent. Lame, whose real name is Serigne Khabane Lame, is a Senegalese-Italian TikToker known for his deadpan reactions to other videos. His viral videos have earned him a following of more than 162 million. While in the country, Lame attended the Met Gala in New York City on May 5. He has not commented publicly on the allegations that he overstayed his visa. It is also unclear if Lame returned to Italy immediately and posted an Instagram Story of himself in São Paulo, Brazil, after leaving the U.S. Despite barely being old enough to vote, Loudon and Barron Trump were unofficially recruited to help the oldest presidential candidate in history tap into the manosphere and capture the 'bro vote' in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. Loudon, from Palm Beach, Florida, is the son of Dr Gina Loudon, the conservative television pundit and former co-chair of Women for Trump in 2020, and John Loudon, a former Missouri state senator.
Fox News
44 minutes ago
- Fox News
DOJ slams Newsom's 'crass political stunt' over Trump's call-up of National Guard amid LA anti-ICE riots
The Department of Justice (DOJ) argues the courts should deny California's request for a restraining order against the Trump administration over its decision to activate National Guard soldiers in Los Angeles after violent riots broke out over the weekend amid Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the city. Democratic leaders in California claim President Donald Trump abused his authority by invoking a provision of Title 10 that allows the president to mobilize the National Guard if an invasion or rebellion is underway. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said in a statement Monday that Trump caused the bulk of the rioting because he unnecessarily deployed the military to protect ICE personnel and federal buildings. Newsom also claimed local and state police had the situation under control when Trump spurred chaos by issuing his National Guard proclamation. Weighing in on the matter a day ahead of a scheduled hearing, the DOJ made its case that Trump had the authority to call on the National Guard's response. "In a crass political stunt endangering American lives, the Governor of California seeks to use this Court to stop the President of the United States from exercising his lawful statutory and constitutional power to ensure that federal personnel and facilities are protected," the DOJ said. "But, under the Constitution, the President is the Commander in Chief of the armed forces, and the President is responsible for ensuring the protection of federal personnel and federal facilities." Since Friday, violent rioters who object to ICE's enforcement of immigration laws have targeted and damaged federal buildings, injured federal personnel and impeded federal functions, the DOJ said. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and other state and local law enforcement officials have been unable to bring order to Los Angeles, the DOJ claimed. The agency also pointed to a comment made by LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, who said during a news conference that "things have gotten out of control" and warned that "somebody could easily be killed." "Evaluating the unrest and threats to the enforcement of federal law that local and state authorities were unable or unwilling to control, the President responded by using the authority vested in him by statute and the Constitution to federalize and deploy the California National Guard to protect federal personnel and property, quell the mobs, and restore order," the DOJ wrote. "When the situation escalated further, the Secretary of Defense deployed a group of U.S. Marines to further assist. "The President has every right under the Constitution and by statute to call forth the National Guard and Marines to quell lawless violence directed against enforcement of federal law," the DOJ continued. "Yet instead of working to bring order to Los Angeles, California and its Governor filed a lawsuit in San Francisco seeking a court order limiting the federal government's ability to protect its property and officials." The DOJ said California's request would "countermand" the president's military directives, which would be "unprecedented." "On the merits, Plaintiffs' claims are baseless," the DOJ said. Newsom also claimed Trump never consulted with him before activating the National Guard, though the statute does not have such a requirement, the DOJ said. "It merely directs, as a procedural matter, that the President's orders be conveyed "through" the Governor," the DOJ wrote. "They were." Historically, courts did not interfere when former President Dwight Eisenhower deployed the military to protect school desegregation, nor did they interfere when former President Richard Nixon deployed the military to deliver the mail during a postal strike. Ultimately, the DOJ recommended the court deny California and Newsom's motion for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction. Newsom's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
