A Venezuelan man was tackled in a New Hampshire courthouse and sent by ICE to Texas
A Venezuelan man facing misdemeanor charges in New Hampshire was apprehended in a courthouse by federal agents who also knocked over a bystander as they tackled him.
Recently released security camera footage from Nashua Circuit Court shows two agents throwing Arnuel Marquez Colmenarez to the floor and handcuffing him on Feb. 20. An older man using a cane to walk also ended up flat on his back.
Marquez Colmenarez, 33, had been charged Feb. 9 with drunken driving, driving without a license and failing to provide information after an accident. He was heading to his arraignment on those charges when he was apprehended, Nashua Police say.
Jared Neff, the court liaison officer for the Hudson Police Department, said he was in the prosecutor's office when he heard a loud commotion near the elevators.
'There were voices yelling 'Stop!' and then a loud 'bang' which sounded like people had fallen on the ground and were actively fighting and struggling,' he wrote in an incident report.
Neff said he helped restrain Marquez Colmenarez, whom he described as actively resisting attempts to handcuff him. The agents were working on orders to detain immigrants in the country illegally, Neff said. They told Neff they had tried to detain Marquez Colmenarez quietly in the elevator, but he had fled.
A judge later issued a bench warrant after he failed to appear for his arraignment. The prosecutor handling the case wasn't contacted by federal agents before the arraignment and didn't witness the arrest, police said.
As of Monday, Colmenaraz was being held at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Texas, according to an online database. The agency did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Immigration officers were a growing presence at courthouses during President Donald Trump's first term, prompting pushback from judges and other local officials. The president has gone further in his second term by repealing a policy in place since 2011 for agents to generally avoid such places as schools, houses of worship and hospitals.
Under current policy, immigration officials can make arrests 'in or near courthouses when they have credible information that leads them to believe the targeted alien(s) is or will be present' and as long as they are not prohibited from doing so by state or local law.
In Boston, an ICE agent was held in contempt last month after he detained a suspect while he was on trial.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ITV News
5 hours ago
- ITV News
Los Angeles immigration protests: How did we get here?
Tensions skyrocketed in Los Angeles over the weekend, as protesters faced off with police, setting cars alight, throwing concrete, and coming under fire from tear gas and non-lethal rounds. The violent clashes followed a series of immigration raids in the city on Friday. Similar scenes of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detaining suspected illegal immigrants have become emblematic of President Trump 's radical deportation policy. But what caused the situation to escalate in LA, why is Trump's response so unprecedented - and how did we get here? ITV News explains. Nationwide crackdown Immigration was high on Trump's agenda during the presidential election campaign, promising to deport illegal immigrants en masse on "day one" of his term in office. Once he officially took charge in January, he signed in a flurry of executive orders and mandates on immigration to toughen border security and carry out mass deportations. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement - or ICE - was given enhanced powers, including making it easier to deport people without appearing before an immigration judge. Trump has enlisted hundreds of state and local law enforcement agencies to help ICE identify those who have entered the US illegally. He has also lifted long-standing rules restricting immigration enforcement near schools, churches and hospitals, and has ordered prosecutors to investigate officials accused of interfering with his crackdown. The Trump administration found itself defying federal courts, after flying hundreds of Venezuelan and Central American men to El Salvador - despite a judge blocking the move. The White House later admitted to mistakenly deporting one of the men, who was flown to the country due to an "administrative error". Trump's moves to ramp up arrests and deportations has left immigrant communities across the US fearful. He claims agents are arresting an average of 1,600 "dangerous criminals" per day. Raids in LA Los Angeles is a diverse city with a significant Latino population. ICE agents arrested 44 people across multiple locations in the city on Friday, June 6. Charities working to support immigrants said people were detained at seven places, including several car parks of hardware chain Home Depot, a doughnut shop and a clothing warehouse. Videos from bystanders and television news crews captured people being walked across a Home Depot car park by federal agents. Yliana Johansen-Mendez from the Immigrant Defenders Law Center said one man had already been deported back to Mexico on Saturday, after being picked up at a Home Depot on Friday morning. Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, condemned the immigration raids. "I am deeply angered by what has taken place," Bass said in a statement. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. We will not stand for this." Protesters then gathered outside a federal detention centre, chanting "set them free, let them stay". Others held signs saying 'ICE out of LA!', and some scrawled graffiti on the building facade. Police with riot shields used tear gas and batons to disperse the crowd, and force people away from the building. Deploying the National Guard As demonstrations grew, Trump ordered the deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles on Sunday, and said: "We'll send whatever we need to make sure there's law and order." The guard is a US military reserve force often mobilised in domestic emergencies, answering to both state governors and the president. Trump's move to bring in the National Guard was done without the request of the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom - who requested guard members be removed and called their deployment a "serious breach of state sovereignty". The deployment marks the first time in decades that a state's National Guard was activated without the governor requesting it. Newsom has maintained Californian authorities had the situation under control. In a series of attacks on social media, he called Trump a "stone cold liar", accusing him of stoking the violence and "trying to manufacture a crisis". Some 2,000 troops from the guard were deployed in response to the protests. As he prepared to board Air Force One in New Jersey on Sunday, Trump told reporters that there were 'violent people' in Los Angeles, adding: "They're not gonna get away with it."Asked if he was planning to send in soldiers from the US army, Trump said: "We're gonna have troops everywhere. We're not going to let this happen to our country." The United States Northern Command, part of the country's Department of Defence, said around 500 marines stationed east of LA were in a "prepared to deploy status".
The Herald Scotland
a day ago
- The Herald Scotland
Trump's new travel restrictions hit tourists, families
Trump's proclamation, signed on June 4, takes effect June 9. The administration cited security reasons for the bans on travelers from a dozen countries and restrictions on those from seven others. It prohibits entry into the U.S. of foreign nationals from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. Travel restrictions, including suspensions, will be placed on those from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela. Of the nearly 1.7 million visas issued to people from those countries between 2014 and 2023, almost half were from Venezuela. They reunited with family, shopped and visited Disney World and other theme parks and attractions, according to recent media and social media accounts. Venezuelans and Haitians speak out against the travel ban The proclamation suspends entry into the United States for Venezuelan nationals with temporary work, study and tourist visas. "Venezuela lacks a competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports or civil documents and it does not have appropriate screening and vetting measures," the proclamation said. It also mentioned the overstay rate on visas from the country is nearly 10%. A mother from Venezuela who moved to South Florida six years ago told CBS News she's unsure whether her adult son, who remains in the South American country, will be allowed to visit her. The announcement also prompted concern among bloggers who write about Disney parks in California and Florida, who questioned the impact the restrictions could have on the thousands who visit the parks each year from Venezuela. Members of South Florida's Haitian community also spoke out about the ban. More than 230,000 native Haitians live in the metropolitan area, roughly 4% of the region's population, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Marleine Bastien, who was born in Haiti and now serves on the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners, said she's "deeply disheartened" by the ban. In a statement, she called it "cruel and xenophobic" and a "blatant attempt to scapegoat an already suffering people." "This unjust policy will sow chaos in our communities, separating families, and disrupting lives," said Bastien, founder of Family Action Network Movement, a South Florida-based organization. The decision is a "betrayal of the values America claims to uphold - compassion, justice, and opportunity for all," she said. Haitians averaged 24,337 non-immigrant visas for the U.S. over a decade and Cubans averaged 12,464. Travel from the countries plunged during the pandemic but had begun to increase again by 2023. Haitians received 10,515 non-immigrant visas that year and Cubans received 6,146. Trump's proclamation stated he had directed the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and others to identify countries where the vetting and screening information is "so deficient as to warrant a full or partial suspension" of nationals of those countries into the U.S. and the group had found a number of countries deficient. Rubio, a South Florida native whose parents migrated from Cuba in 1956, shared on X a post from the White House, attributed to Trump: "We cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen ... That is why today I am signing a new executive order placing travel restrictions on countries including Yemen, Somalia, Haiti, Libya, and numerous others." USA TODAY looked at how many visas were distributed to foreign nationals from the countries in question over the past decade. A nonimmigrant visa is a temporary document, issued for tourism, temporary work, medical care, study or business. How many visitor's visas were issued? Combined, foreign nationals in the countries now facing travel bans accounted for fewer than 63,000 non-immigrant visas in 2023, the most recent year for which statistics are available. At least two dozen other countries not included in the ban each accounted for more visitor visas that year. While Venezuela leads all the 19 recently restricted countries in visitors to the U.S., Iranians received 17,634 non-immigrant visas in 2023, more than any of the dozen countries facing total travel bans. Myanmar, which U.S. documents recognize as Burma, received the next-most with 13,284. Here are the number of non-immigrant visas granted to nationalities of the other countries facing bans: Sudan, 4,506 Yemen, 4,204 Afghanistan, 2,665 Libya, 2,259 Congo Republic, 2,175 Chad, 2,090 Equatorial Guinea, 1,534 Eritrea, 931 Somalia, 463 Looking at the decade overall, Haitians topped the list, receiving the most non-immigrant visas among the banned countries at 243,369. Iran was second with 162,356 and Burma/Myanmar was third with 115,520. Among the countries facing travel restrictions rather than bans, foreign nationals from five of those - Sierra Leone, Togo, Laos, Turkmenistan and Burundi - received fewer than 8,500 non immigrant visas combined in 2023. Which country's residents received the most non-immigrant visas? Mexico led the world at 2.3 million non-immigrant visas in 2023. The figure also includes border crossing cards, laminated cards that allow Mexicans to cross the border between the nations for periods of less than 30 days. More than 1.3 million people planning to visit the U.S. from India received non-immigrant visas in 2023 and 1.06 million from Brazil. Other countries whose nationalities received the most visiting visas in 2023 include: Colombia, 476,293 China, 417,008 Argentina, 291,892 Ecuador, 274,799 Philippines, 285,860 Israel, 190,415 Vietnam, 133,781 Dominican Republic, 130,360 Turkey, 130,168 Nigeria, 113,695 Peru, 111,851 Dinah Voyles Pulver, a national correspondent for USA TODAY, writes about climate change, violent weather and other news. Reach her at dpulver@ or @dinahvp on Bluesky or X or dinahvp.77 on Signal.
The Herald Scotland
a day ago
- The Herald Scotland
Federal agents, protesters clash in Los Angeles over immigration
Police declared an unlawful assembly and responded by firing tear gas, pepper spray and flash-bang concussion rounds toward the crowd. The clash marked one of the most serious confrontations yet between agents carrying out Trump's directives on mass arrests and deportations, and local officials who oppose the stricter enforcement measures. The Department of Homeland Security said 118 undocumented immigrants were arrested during the week in Los Angeles, including five alleged gang members and others with criminal records for smuggling, drug trafficking and assault. Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said agents were outnumbered June 6 for hours as more than 1,000 rioters surrounded the federal building. "What took place in Los Angeles yesterday was appalling," Lyons said in a statement June 7. Lyons, who vowed to continue the enforcement action, accused Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of taking "the side of chaos and lawlessness over law enforcement." Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said city policy since 1979 has barred officers from initiating police action based solely on trying to determine a person's immigration status. He said the department "will not assist or participate in any sort of mass deportations." "I'm aware that these activities cause anxiety for many Angelenos, so I want to make it clear: the LAPD is not involved in civil immigration enforcement," McDonnell said in a statement. Bass said she was "deeply angered" about the enforcement actions and that she would coordinate with immigrant-rights organizations. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city," Bass said in a statement. "We will not stand for this." "We will," FBI Director Kash Patel replied on social media June 7. One of the skirmishes involved the arrest of a union leader, David Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union of California, who was injured and detained by ICE at one site. The union said Huerta was arrested "while exercising his First Amendment right to observe and document law enforcement activity." "We all collectively have to object to this madness because this is not justice," Huerta said in a post on social media. "This is injustice." U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli accused Huerta of deliberately obstructing federal agents at a worksite. Huerta will be arraigned in federal court June 9, Essayli said. "Let me be clear: I don't care who you are - if you impede federal agents, you will be arrested and prosecuted," Essayli said in a post on social media. "No one has the right to assault, obstruct, or interfere with federal authorities carrying out their duties." Federal authorities said they would continue their enforcement actions despite the protests in Los Angeles and across the country. ICE announced June 6 that nearly 1,500 undocumented immigrants were arrested in Massachusetts during a monthlong Operation Patriot.
