‘We'll help you': Body camera video raises questions about Providence police cooperation with ICE
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'What is this, if it's not cooperation?' said City Council President Rachel Miller, who, along with other councilors, has asked for an external review. 'Even the perception in the community that Providence police is working with ICE is damaging to overall community safety.'
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When the suspect comes out of the house later, Lieutenant William Brown tells an ICE agent: 'I want your people grabbing him,' adding: 'We'll help you.'
The Providence External Review Authority, a civilian panel that oversees the police, plans to review the incident, executive director Ferenc Karoly said. He said he wants to review all of the videos, which have not yet been released.
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'The PPD supervisor telling ICE, 'we'll help you' isn't a great initial indicator that they did not help ICE with their operation,' Karoly said.
A large swath of the 30-minute video is silent while officers are talking to ICE agents, and only one video has been released so far, from a camera worn by Sergeant Peter Salmons. Additional videos from other officers' are being reviewed and will be released, spokesperson Josh Estrella said.
Steven Brown, the executive director of the ACLU of Rhode Island, noted
'This is precisely the time that the public needs to hear what's being said, if in fact the police are not assisting ICE,' he said. Brown said police should not have stuck around after investigating the car crash.
'By hanging around, Providence police became inextricably involved in the arrest,' Brown said.
Perez told the Globe Wednesday he is reviewing whether Salmons violated the body-worn camera policy by muting his camera, but he said he has already determined that officers did not violate the policy that bars cooperation with ICE.
'We understand how certain actions in the video may be interpreted, but it's important to clarify the role of our officers,' Perez said in a statement. 'At no point did they assist in the enforcement efforts of federal laws.'
ICE was seeking to detain Ivan Mendoza Meza, who spokesperson James Covington said is in the country illegally and was previously deported to Mexico back in 2019.
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Mendoza Meza is awaiting trial on felony drug charges in Providence from 2023, where he is accused of being a 'key member' of a fentanyl trafficking organization that was being run out of a basement of a Plainfield Street restaurant. ICE says he's a member of the MS-13 gang in Honduras.
City ordinance and Providence police policy prohibits officers from helping with civil immigration enforcement, regardless of the reason ICE wants to deport someone, unless there is a criminal warrant issued for a person in Providence police custody. No criminal warrant was issued in this case, Perez said, only an administrative detainer.
In the video released Tuesday night, officers on scene initially are taking down the report of a car crash. Sergeant Salmons walks up to an ICE agent and asks, 'what do you guys need from us?'
The agent says the man they are looking for is in the basement of a home. He fled from a Toyota pickup truck after the collision with ICE.
The video is then muted for 11 minutes, during which time officers are standing around and talking to ICE agents. Later, when audio resumes, officers tape off a section of the neighborhood and are telling neighbors, some of whom are swearing and calling them 'pigs,' to stand behind the tape.
Officers say in the video that ICE is waiting to get a warrant so they can go into the Alverson Street house where the suspect is hiding.
Around 11:20 a.m., Salmons is seen knocking on the door of the house and speaking to the landlord to ask if anyone needs help evacuating. She says she and her children are trying to go to church.
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'My concern is separate from everybody else,' Salmons tells her. 'I just want to make sure there's no people in this apartment building or this house that might get hurt if it turns violent.'
He then asks her if she can hand over her keys, so that ICE does not have to break down any doors to get the suspect. She agrees.
When he returns to where the ICE agents are standing in the backyard, Salmons relays that he saw a Hispanic man in a third floor window. ICE then shows him photos of Mendoza Meza, and they discuss whether he might be the person Salmons saw in the window. The ICE agents previously thought he was in the basement.
Ultimately, ICE did not have to raid the home; Mendoza Meza came outside, and was met with both Providence officers and ICE agents on the stoop. He was put in handcuffs by ICE agents, and Providence officers walked next to the agents as he was led into the ICE vehicle.
In an interview Wednesday, Perez denied that the Providence police actions constituted cooperation.
'The goal was never to assist,' Perez said. 'It was to minimize harm, avoid escalations and protect bystanders and neighbors.'
He noted that in other cities, including Worcester, Mass.,
Perez said if Mendoza Meza had not come out voluntarily, ICE was preparing to call a SWAT tactical team to go get him inside the house. The landlord also appeared unwilling to talk to ICE, but spoke to the Providence officers.
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'The context of our officers' presence was critical for de-escalation, not enforcement,' Perez said. 'They sought to maintain calm and reduce tensions.'
'That does not equate to assistance in their operations,' he said. 'This idea of us retreating from a call is unrealistic.'
Perez said the lieutenant's offer to 'help' ICE when Mendoza Meza left the house was in reference to crowd control, not helping take him into custody.
This was the first time officers have been in this position during an immigration enforcement event since he's been chief, Perez said. Officers had to make split-second decisions, and he said it had a 'positive outcome.'
In addition to the police policy prohibiting cooperation with ICE, the rules are enshrined in an ordinance called the Providence Community-Police Relations Act.
Miller said the video appears to violate the ordinance, 'and it undermines trust and safety of our community.'
She said if residents think Providence police cooperates with ICE, they'll be hesitant to call police when a crime is committed.
'I'm an immigrant myself, I understand the worries,' Perez said. 'We're not immigration officers, and we'll continue to follow our policy.
Steph Machado can be reached at
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