ICE agents smashed a Guatemalan man’s car window and forcibly pulled him from the vehicle during a chaotic immigration arrest in Massachusetts — and the man’s lawyer says they had the wrong target.
Juan Francisco Mendez, 29, and his wife, Marilu Domingo Ortiz, were sitting in their car in New Bedford, Mass., on April 14 when they were approached by immigration agents looking for someone named “Antonio.”
When Mendez told the agents he wasn’t who they were looking for — Antonio was reportedly a former resident in Mendez’s building — they demanded that he exit the vehicle anyway, his attorney alleges.
Mendez said he would like to wait for his lawyer to arrive, and that’s when they smashed the window with a pickaxe-like tool and removed him.
Related: After ICE Agents Realized They Arrested the Wrong Teen in N.Y.C., They Were Told to ‘Take Him Anyway’: Report
By the time Mendez’s attorney, Ondine Galvez Sniffin, arrived on the scene, his client was already in handcuffs.
“They said they were looking for a certain individual, by a different name,” Sniffin told WBZ Boston. “I said that’s not my client… I know my client’s history, that is not him.”
ONDINE GALVEZ SNIFFIN
ICE agent smashes a car window on April 14, 2025
Mendez’s wife and 9-year-old son are protected under asylum after the family fled their native country of Guatemala. Mendez was waiting on documentation to finalize his own asylum status when he was detained.
He is currently being held at a detention facility in Dover, N.H., however, Sniffin said she’s been unable to obtain any more information on potential charges or why he remains in custody.
Related: ICE Took a Trump Supporter’s Wife as They Returned from Their Honeymoon. Still, He Says, ‘I Don’t Regret the Vote’
Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty
ICE agents and police attend a January meeting ahead of immigration raids in Chicago
Mendez’s arrest is the latest viral clip to come from President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Earlier this week, footage of federal agents tackling a Venezuelan man in a New Hampshire courthouse — and bulldozing an elderly bystander in the process — was shared by multiple outlets.
Arnuel Marquez Colmenarez, 33, was at the Nashua Circuit Court on Feb. 20 for an arraignment on misdemeanor charges related to an alleged drunk driving incident on Feb. 9. However, before he made it to court, he was thrown to the ground and detained by the agents.
An older man walking with a cane was also caught up in the scuffle and fell on his back.
A judge later issued a bench warrant after Marquez Colmenarez failed to appear for his arraignment. The Associated Press reported that the prosecutor handling his case wasn’t contacted by agents or made aware of the arrest before the arraignment.
As of Monday, April 14, Marquez Colmenaraz was being held at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Texas, according to an online database.
Read the original article on People
