Latest news with #Öztürk
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judges bring Trump's sweeping plan to deport foreign students to a standstill
President Donald Trump's sweeping bid to deport foreign students who have condemned the war in Gaza has been brought to a standstill by federal judges who have repeatedly ruled against the administration, according to an NBC News review of recent court filings. First, Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student, was arrested and transported hundreds of miles from his home. Then a graduate student at Tufts University in Massachusetts, Rümeysa Öztürk, was grabbed off the street by masked plainclothes federal agents. A third student, Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown University postdoctoral scholar and professor, was arrested at his home, while another Columbia student, Mohsen Mahdawi, was detained at his naturalization interview. Since then, though, federal judges have rejected the administration's arguments about court jurisdiction and the continued detention of three of the four students. Federal judges freed Öztürk, Mahdawi and Suri. And a ruling on Khalil's possible release is expected soon. In separate legal setbacks for the administration, federal appeals courts upheld lower courts' orders requiring the government to transfer Öztürk to Vermont for a bail hearing and to release Mahdawi. And late last month, a judge issued an injunction blocking the administration from terminating the legal status of international students at universities across the United States. The judges have been appointed by both Republican and Democratic presidents, including Trump. 'It has been very heartening to see the courts recognize the legal issues at play here and recognize that what the administration has been doing is unconstitutional,' said Esha Bhandari, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents several of the students. 'This reinforces just how important it is to have an independent judiciary that can protect individual rights and act as a check when the executive branch overreaches.' Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin predicted in a statement to NBC News that the administration would eventually prevail in court. 'These rulings delay justice and seek to kneecap the President's constitutionally vested powers,' she said. "We expect a higher court to vindicate us in this. We have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side.' The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment. The Trump administration's primary legal argument is that foreign students and scholars can be deported under an obscure provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. The law allows the secretary of state to remove noncitizens whose presence in the country would have 'potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.' Trump administration officials have argued that students who engaged in protests in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization, contributed to antisemitism on college campuses. Khalil and the other students have denied allegations of antisemitism and of providing support to Hamas or any other terrorist organization, and they say they have not participated in protests backing Hamas. None of the four face any publicly known criminal charges. The government has yet to disclose any evidence linking the students to Hamas or praising the group, which the United States designated a foreign terrorist organization in 1997. Attorneys representing the students have argued that their clients' detainment and the efforts to deport them are retaliation for constitutionally protected free speech and advocacy for Palestinian rights. Khalil, a legal permanent resident, played a key role in the student protests at Columbia University last year by leading negotiations between the protesters and university officials. The other Columbia student, Mahdawi, was a prominent organizer of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus. Öztürk, a graduate student, wrote an op-ed in her student newspaper at Tufts University that was critical of the university's response to the war in Gaza. Last week, a federal judge in New Jersey ruled against the administration's claim that Khalil's beliefs and speech had adverse consequences for U.S. foreign policy. It was the first time a judge has said the government's primary justification for deporting Khalil was most likely unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said Secretary of State Marco Rubio failed to 'affirmatively determine' that Khalil's alleged conduct has affected U.S. relations with another country, adding that deporting Khalil under the provision would be 'unprecedented.' In response to a request for comment, a State Department spokesperson said, 'We don't comment on pending litigation.' Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation's border security and immigration center, said the judges were unfairly blocking Trump. 'There have been a lot of activist judges issuing rulings against the Trump administration,' Ries said. 'There is a clear effort, beyond even what we saw in Trump's first term, to slow down a lot of the efforts to enforce immigration law.' Daniel Kanstroom, a professor at Boston College Law School, predicted that judges would continue to rule in international students' favor. 'I think the courts are going to view this period as one in which the judiciary should and needs to exert a little more force and authority than it might do in other circumstances,' Kanstroom said. 'Just to bring the tone down a little bit and bring us back to a more normal interaction among the three branches.' In April, U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford ruled that Mahdawi, 34, a U.S. permanent resident who was born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank, should be released from a Vermont immigration detention facility on bail. Crawford said Mahdawi's continued detention would be likely to have a 'chilling effect on protected speech.' The government opposed freeing Mahdawi, citing law enforcement records that indicated he was 'involved in and supporting antisemitic acts of violence' and that he had 'an interest in and facility with firearms for that purpose,' according to court documents filed under seal but reviewed by NBC News. But in a court order, Crawford said law enforcement had determined that a Vermont gun shop owner's accusations against Mahdawi were unsubstantiated. In May, U.S. District Judge William Sessions III freed Öztürk from detention, writing, 'There has been no evidence introduced by the government other than the op-ed,' referring to the student newspaper op-ed in which Öztürk called on Tufts to acknowledge the war in Gaza. 'That literally is the case. There is no evidence here,' Sessions said. Sessions said Öztürk's continued detention infringed on her First Amendment and due process rights. He added that it might be justified 'if the government had presented a legitimate case for it, but it has not done so.' No cases involving the deportation of foreign students for their condemnation of the war in Gaza are before the Supreme Court, but they could be in the future. Conor Fitzpatrick, a supervising senior attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a nonprofit civil liberties group, said the Supreme Court has yet to address the intersection of executive power, immigration law and free speech. Until it does, the fate of foreign students and scholars in the United States remains uncertain. 'There is a real sense of unease for international students and international faculty about whether they can feel safe voicing their opinions,' Fitzpatrick said. 'They're worried about risking their immigration status, and that is a harm that is going to take a long time to undo.' John Yoo, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who served as a senior Justice Department official during the George W. Bush administration, said the cases will create a unique challenge for the Supreme Court. 'The two things that this court has been very supportive of are coming into collision,' Yoo said. 'The Roberts Court has been very deferential to the executive branch in general. On the other hand, this court has also been extremely protective of freedom of speech.' He added, 'It's going to cause a lot of tension at the court.' This article was originally published on
NBC News
8 hours ago
- Politics
- NBC News
Judges bring Trump's sweeping plan to deport foreign students to a standstill
President Donald Trump's sweeping bid to deport foreign students who have condemned the war in Gaza has been brought to a standstill by federal judges who have repeatedly ruled against the administration, according to an NBC News review of recent court filings. First, Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student, was arrested and transported hundreds of miles from his home. Then a graduate student at Tufts University in Massachusetts, Rümeysa Öztürk, was grabbed off the street by masked plainclothes federal agents. A third student, Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown University postdoctoral scholar and professor, was arrested at his home, while another Columbia student, Mohsen Mahdawi, was detained at his naturalization interview. Since then, though, federal judges have rejected the administration's arguments about court jurisdiction and the continued detention of three of the four students. Federal judges freed Öztürk, Mahdawi and Suri. And a ruling on Khalil's possible release is expected soon. In separate legal setbacks for the administration, federal appeals courts upheld lower courts' orders requiring the government to transfer Öztürk to Vermont for a bail hearing and to release Mahdawi. And late last month, a judge issued an injunction blocking the administration from terminating the legal status of international students at universities across the United States. The judges have been appointed by both Republican and Democratic presidents, including Trump. 'It has been very heartening to see the courts recognize the legal issues at play here and recognize that what the administration has been doing is unconstitutional,' said Esha Bhandari, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents several of the students. 'This reinforces just how important it is to have an independent judiciary that can protect individual rights and act as a check when the executive branch overreaches.' Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin predicted in a statement to NBC News that the administration would eventually prevail in court. 'These rulings delay justice and seek to kneecap the President's constitutionally vested powers,' she said. "We expect a higher court to vindicate us in this. We have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side.' The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment. Rarely used provision The Trump administration's primary legal argument is that foreign students and scholars can be deported under an obscure provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. The law allows the secretary of state to remove noncitizens whose presence in the country would have 'potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.' Trump administration officials have argued that students who engaged in protests in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization, contributed to antisemitism on college campuses. Khalil and the other students have denied allegations of antisemitism and of providing support to Hamas or any other terrorist organization, and they say they have not participated in protests backing Hamas. None of the four face any publicly known criminal charges. The government has yet to disclose any evidence linking the students to Hamas or praising the group, which the United States designated a foreign terrorist organization in 1997. Attorneys representing the students have argued that their clients' detainment and the efforts to deport them are retaliation for constitutionally protected free speech and advocacy for Palestinian rights. Khalil, a legal permanent resident, played a key role in the student protests at Columbia University last year by leading negotiations between the protesters and university officials. The other Columbia student, Mahdawi, was a prominent organizer of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus. Öztürk, a graduate student, wrote an op-ed in her student newspaper at Tufts University that was critical of the university's response to the war in Gaza. Last week, a federal judge in New Jersey ruled against the administration's claim that Khalil's beliefs and speech had adverse consequences for U.S. foreign policy. It was the first time a judge has said the government's primary justification for deporting Khalil was most likely unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said Secretary of State Marco Rubio failed to 'affirmatively determine' that Khalil's alleged conduct has affected U.S. relations with another country, adding that deporting Khalil under the provision would be 'unprecedented.' In response to a request for comment, a State Department spokesperson said, 'We don't comment on pending litigation.' Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation's border security and immigration center, said the judges were unfairly blocking Trump. 'There have been a lot of activist judges issuing rulings against the Trump administration,' Ries said. 'There is a clear effort, beyond even what we saw in Trump's first term, to slow down a lot of the efforts to enforce immigration law.' Daniel Kanstroom, a professor at Boston College Law School, predicted that judges would continue to rule in international students' favor. 'I think the courts are going to view this period as one in which the judiciary should and needs to exert a little more force and authority than it might do in other circumstances,' Kanstroom said. 'Just to bring the tone down a little bit and bring us back to a more normal interaction among the three branches.' Detention losses In April, U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford ruled that Mahdawi, 34, a U.S. permanent resident who was born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank, should be released from a Vermont immigration detention facility on bail. Crawford said Mahdawi's continued detention would be likely to have a 'chilling effect on protected speech.' The government opposed freeing Mahdawi, citing law enforcement records that indicated he was 'involved in and supporting antisemitic acts of violence' and that he had 'an interest in and facility with firearms for that purpose,' according to court documents filed under seal but reviewed by NBC News. But in a court order, Crawford said law enforcement had determined that a Vermont gun shop owner's accusations against Mahdawi were unsubstantiated. In May, U.S. District Judge William Sessions III freed Öztürk from detention, writing, 'There has been no evidence introduced by the government other than the op-ed,' referring to the student newspaper op-ed in which Öztürk called on Tufts to acknowledge the war in Gaza. 'That literally is the case. There is no evidence here,' Sessions said. Sessions said Öztürk's continued detention infringed on her First Amendment and due process rights. He added that it might be justified 'if the government had presented a legitimate case for it, but it has not done so.' Legal struggle ahead No cases involving the deportation of foreign students for their condemnation of the war in Gaza are before the Supreme Court, but they could be in the future. Conor Fitzpatrick, a supervising senior attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a nonprofit civil liberties group, said the Supreme Court has yet to address the intersection of executive power, immigration law and free speech. Until it does, the fate of foreign students and scholars in the United States remains uncertain. 'There is a real sense of unease for international students and international faculty about whether they can feel safe voicing their opinions,' Fitzpatrick said. 'They're worried about risking their immigration status, and that is a harm that is going to take a long time to undo.' John Yoo, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who served as a senior Justice Department official during the George W. Bush administration, said the cases will create a unique challenge for the Supreme Court. 'The two things that this court has been very supportive of are coming into collision,' Yoo said. 'The Roberts Court has been very deferential to the executive branch in general. On the other hand, this court has also been extremely protective of freedom of speech.' He added, 'It's going to cause a lot of tension at the court.'
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Federal judge orders ICE to release Tufts student whose detention went viral
A federal judge in Vermont has ordered the Trump administration to release a Tufts University PhD student from Turkey whose video-recorded detention earlier this year by immigration agents drew broad condemnation. Judge William Sessions ordered the release of Rümeysa Öztürk on May 9, and she is now free on a personal recognizance bond, her attorneys said. Öztürk, who is Muslim, was taken into custody by plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as she walked on the sidewalk near her Boston-area home on March 25. Shortly after Sessions' ruling, Öztürk was released from the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile. Öztürk's attorneys say she has committed no crime, and was instead targeted by ICE because she co-wrote a pro-Palestinian opinion piece in the student newspaper. Öztürk was detained in Massachusetts before being transferred to Vermont and then Louisiana, where the White House has been sending many international detainees. Her attorneys said her health has been declining since she's been detained. "When did speaking up against oppression become a crime? When did speaking up against genocide become something to be imprisoned for?' her attorney, Mahsa Khanbabai, said in a statement. The Trump administration had targeted multiple international students over their participation in pro-Palestinian protests, but generally declined to offer specific charges against each. The administration has also revoked the visas of more than 1,000 international students, many of whom appeared to have never participated in protests, although those revocations are now on hold. Prior to the Trump administration, people on visas like the one Öztürk holds were typically permitted to remain free during the immigration court process. Sessions' specific order was not immediately available; most of the court files are sealed. Critics said the Trump administration targeted Öztürk to scare other students. "I am relieved and ecstatic that Rümeysa has been ordered released," Khanbabai said. "Unfortunately, it is 45 days too late. She has been imprisoned all these days for simply writing an op-ed that called for human rights and dignity for the people in Palestine." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Judge orders ICE to release Tufts student whose detention went viral
Boston Globe
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
‘Ready to change the world': College students graduate across Greater Boston amid political turmoil
At Boston University, thousands of scarlet-robed graduates buzzed with excitement, letting out cheers as they and their friends appeared on stadium jumbotrons. Commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient Emily Deschanel, a BU alumna and actress who starred in the Fox crime procedural 'Bones,' reminisced about visiting campus dining halls and sneaking friends into dorms. Advertisement After receiving a Doctor of Fine Arts honorary degree, actor Emily Deschanel delivers the Address, during Boston University's 152nd Commencement on Nickerson Field, in Boston, MA, on Sunday May 18, 2025. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff 'The one role I've never played is commencement speaker at my alma mater, the greatest school on God's green earth, Boston University!' she said to cheers. 'I guess now thanks to this honorary degree, I actually am a doctor. No takebacks, sorry.' But the Advertisement At Tufts, Hrabowski reflected on his childhood in Birmingham, Alabama, and his participation in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Children's March — a stand that saw him thrown in jail at age 12 by segregationist public safety commissioner Bull Connor. He voiced support for Tufts graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk, who was detained by immigration authorities in March for co-writing a 'I could never imagine 55 years later that a young woman would write her truth in your paper and find herself arrested and put in jail,' Hrabowski said. 'But let me tell you that all of America salutes your president and Tufts University for supporting that student.' The government justified Öztürk's deportation in court by accusing her of undermining U.S. foreign policy and creating a hostile climate for Jewish students. Öztürk 'America is the greatest democracy in the world, and I believe in those values that we share. I have faith in the American system of justice,' Öztürk said after getting off her plane at Logan Airport. Freeman A. Hrabowski III delivers the Commencement Address at Tufts University's 169th Commencement in Medford, MA, on Sunday May 18, 2025. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff Hrabowski said he, like Öztürk, still believes in America, and encouraged graduates to do the same. 'Roll up your sleeves. Get ready for the fight. You are ready to change the world because you were born to change the world,' Hrabowski said. Advertisement Boston University President Melissa Gilliam said graduates should celebrate their accomplishments and their communities amid 'uncertain times.' 'I understand if you feel concerned or even a little fearful. But sit quietly and take a deep breath,' Gilliam said. 'Trust in all that you have learned and trust that your loved ones and this institution have provided you with knowledge, experience, and values that will carry you through.' At Brandeis' 74th Commencement, Professor of American Jewish History Jonathan D. Sarna urged graduates to 'keep calm and stay sober' in a speech drawing parallels between the current moment and the political climate of the 1970s, when he graduated from Brandeis. 'Our generation had much reason to be sober. We lived through an era driven by President Richard Nixon intoxicated by power and fueled by rage,' Sarna said of his class of 1975. 'Your generation, class of 2025, likewise has much reason to be sober. Yours too is an era driven by a President intoxicated with power and fueled by rage.' Sarna also called on the university to recommit to its historical support of Israel. In November 2023, police '[In the 1970s] Jews and non-Jews alike had an intuitive sense of our collective responsibility toward Israel and its people,' Sarna said. 'Let us strive to reawaken that collective sense of responsibility.' Boston University president Melissa Gilliam gives her Charge to the Graduates during BU's 152nd Commencement on Nickerson Field, in Boston, MA, on Sunday May 18, 2025. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff Sarna's speech was delivered amid criticism from students for the university's choice for commencement speaker. In an Advertisement In his speech, Sarna emphasized the importance of maintaining balance, modesty, and responsibility, praising the university's core beliefs under founder Louis Brandeis. 'Let's make certain, whatever our faith or politics, that Brandeis's role as the great academic center and the foremost training ground for 21st century American Jewish people is to reaffirm and bolster,' Sarna said. The Commencement ceremony took place two days following Brandeis's announcement to renovate a former administrative building into a new 'Center for Jewish Life,' 'affirming its founding mission,' the university said. Brandeis graduate Olivia 'Dakota' Lichauco, from Belmont, called the ceremony 'spectacular, very heartwarming, and emotional.' 'The past couple weeks have been very busy with finals exams, senior events,' Lichauco said. 'It's been tricky to find time to register how we are all feeling about graduation, but I think starting tomorrow it's going to settle in, which is a bit scary.' Graduates rejoice as the confetti flies at the conclusion of Boston University's 152nd Commencement on Nickerson Field, in Boston, MA, on Sunday May 18, 2025. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff Dan Glaun can be reached at
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Smashed windows, street abductions: ICE gets attention with Mass. arrests
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has ratcheted up operations in the nearly four months since President Donald Trump returned to the White House — and Massachusetts has certainly not been left out. 'I'm coming to Boston and I'm bringing hell with me," Tom Homan, the U.S. 'border czar,' promised during the Conservative Political Action Conference in February. While the Trump administration has maintained that its enforcement efforts are confined to targeting 'illegal immigrant killers, rapists and drug dealers‚' several of the arrests have been for much more minor crimes — right down to an argument over a cell phone. Public criticism has reached a fever pitch over some of these arrests, and the tactics ICE employs in undertaking them — which have included approaching a target while wearing masks, an interruption of court proceedings and smashing a car window with an ax while people were inside. Court battles following the arrests have been high stakes, as the administration has at times deported individuals before the conclusion of their guaranteed Constitutional right to due process. These are some of the most high-profile ICE arrests that have happened in Massachusetts since Inauguration Day 2025. Zeneyda Barrera, 18, originally from Nicaragua, was arrested by ICE agents on Jan. 27 after she got into an argument with her brother over a cellphone in Lynn. It was around 4:30 a.m. that Monday morning when a neighbor called the police to complain of loud noise coming from Barrera's home. Barrera, her mother and her 12-year-old brother told Lynn police that Barrera pushed her brother down while they were arguing over a phone. The 12-year-old was not injured, but Barrera was taken into custody on a misdemeanor assault and battery charge. However, before her arraignment at Lynn District Court that morning, ICE agents whisked Barrera away to a detention center in Maine. She remained there for five days until she was released from ICE custody and returned to her family in Lynn, after the Essex County District Attorney's office dropped the misdemeanor charge against her. 'If ICE's intent is to target violent offenders who put our community at risk, people like Zeneyda should not be detained,' Lynn Mayor Jared Nicholson said at the time. Rümeysa Öztürk, a 30-year-old Turkish woman enrolled in a Tufts University doctoral program, was taken from the streets of Somerville by ICE agents on March 25. Federal officials later said the arrest was linked with a pro-Palestinian op-ed she co-wrote for the Tufts University student newspaper. Öztürk had been on her way to break a Ramadan fast when she was handcuffed and driven off by six ICE agents, some of whom wore masks. Video from the scene showed Öztürk yelling as bystanders asked the agents what was happening. Öztürk was driven overnight to New Hampshire, then to Vermont, before she was ultimately brought to a detention facility in Louisiana. Öztürk was never charged with any crimes. The Department of Homeland Security said that she engaged in activities 'in support of Hamas,' a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, without providing evidence of that claim. After she spent 45 days in custody, during which she experienced long and repeated asthma attacks, a federal judge in Vermont ordered Öztürk's release from Louisiana on May 9. This followed a tumultuous legal battle between courts in Louisiana, Vermont and Massachusetts vying for control over Öztürk's detainment. When she returned to Boston, Öztürk thanked her community at a press conference in the Boston Logan Airport. 'I lost both my freedom and also my education during a crucial time for my doctoral studies,' she said during a press conference at Logan International Airport in Boston. 'But I am so grateful for all the support, kindness and care.' On March 27, Martell Lebron-Wilson had stepped outside of the Edward W. Brooke Courthouse in Boston when he was detained by ICE agents in what bystanders thought was a kidnapping. Lebron-Wilson, a 49-year-old citizen of the Dominican Republic who entered the country without authorization, was on lunch break during his trial for falsifying RMV records when agents took him swiftly into an SUV. 'Was that a kidnapping? You're not going to tell us where he's going?' a man asked the federal agents, who walked away with no answer. Lebron-Wilson's criminal defense lawyer, Murat Erkan, argued for his client's constitutional rights to due process and a fair trial before Boston Judge Mark Summerville, in a contentious hearing at Boston Municipal Court on March 31. During that hearing, Summerville found Brian Sullivan, one of the ICE agents involved in the operation, in contempt of court. He said Sullivan committed 'intentional and egregious violations of the defendant's rights' by detaining him before his criminal trial had concluded. But U.S. Attorney of Massachusetts, Leah Foley, sought to dismiss the contempt charge by the Boston judge. In April, Federal Judge William G. Young dismissed Summerville's contempt ruling against Sullivan. On April 24, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden admonished the case's dismissal and asked federal authorities to investigate what they described as ICE's violation of its own procedures. Hayden had said after the initial ruling that ICE has acted as a 'reckless' threat to public safety, and caused witnesses and victims to stop cooperating with law enforcement. Rosane Ferreira-De Oliveira, a Brazilian mother of three, was arrested in one of the most public and chaotic settings to date. In a wild scene on Eureka Street in Worcester, in the middle of the day on May 8, ICE agents detained Ferreira-De Oliveira as a crowd of more than 30 people shouted at the agents and demanded to see a warrant. She was eventually taken to be held in Rhode Island. Local Worcester police arrested the woman's daughter, who is a minor, at the scene after she stood in front of the car holding a baby, then later ran after the car and kicked it. Augusta Clara Moura, another of Ferreira-De Oliveira's daughters, has spoken out about what led up to her mother's detainment. Her partner, Samarone Alves Ferreira-De Souza, had honked at a car that cut him off while he was driving to work, according to Clara Moura. The car turned out to be an undercover ICE vehicle and agents arrested him. The day after, agents came to Clara Moura's home and asked her to return Ferreira-De Souza's car and sign immigration paperwork, she said. When she left her house with her 17-year-old sister and her baby to do so, ICE stopped her car, and 'told me I was under arrest,' she said. Clara Moura called her mother to take her son and when she arrived, ICE arrested her instead, according to Clara Moura. At least three incidents where ICE smashed car windows in order to arrest people have been reported over the past four months by NBC Boston. These incidents happened in New Bedford, Chelsea and Waltham. In New Bedford, Juan Francisco Mendez was arrested on April 14 after ICE agents smashed through his car window with an ax and pulled him from the vehicle. His wife recorded the incident, and Mendez can be heard saying, 'My lawyer is on the way.' Less than a month later, on Mother's Day, ICE agents broke through the window of an SUV in Chelsea as a family left together from church. A man was ripped from the vehicle, thrown to the ground and handcuffed during the daytime arrest, as bystanders heard him ask why he was being detained, NBC reported. And the next day, ICE agents broke through a car window in Waltham to arrest two men in a downtown area of the city. The incident was recorded by a 15-year-old girl who was waiting for the school bus that Monday morning. These and other arrests have left Massachusetts communities on edge — to the point where ICE itself has begun addressing rumors about their activities. On Monday, rumors that ICE agents were 'scooping up nannies' on playgrounds in Boston circulated heavily online, just days after those same fears developed in Washington, D.C. ICE released a statement Tuesday denying the allegations. 'Any rumors that ICE officers are targeting nannies at playgrounds or parks are entirely false and absolutely ridiculous,' the statement from Acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston. Hyde said the rumors 'amount to nothing more than scare tactics and unnecessarily place the safety of our brave officers in jeopardy.' Other people originally from the state — and who are U.S. citizens — reported they've been asked to leave the country by DHS in past weeks. This includes three immigration lawyers originally from Massachusetts, who received letters on April 11 that began with the line, 'It is time for you to leave the United States.' One of the recipients — Pamela Rioles Saeed, a 28-year-old immigration lawyer in Arizona who was born in Boston and moved in 2018 — said she was 'frustrated' the government was 'so careless.' The letters only ' ... serve to instill fear and disorder for those who received it,' Saeed said at the time, and show 'either gross incompetence or willful indifference from DHS.' 'Are you threatening me?': Video displays Worcester councilor's confrontation with police Worcester releases body cam footage of woman's arrest by ICE agents Worcester to release body camera footage of police response to ICE arrest Rümeysa Öztürk chose grace over bitterness. What we can learn | John L. Micek GoFundMe raises money for family of woman detained by ICE in Worcester Read the original article on MassLive.
