Family says ICE agents smashed car window in seizing Guatemalan man who's seeking asylum

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts family is demanding answers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, complaining its agents smashed a car window with a hammer and detained a man who they claim had applied for asylum.

A lawyer for the family also claims agents were not looking for Juan Francisco Mendez when they grabbed him Monday in New Bedford, Massachusetts, as he drove to a dental appointment. The lawyer, Ondine Galvez-Sniffin, told The Associated Press during an interview that the agents claimed they were looking for another man with a different name before they dragged him and his wife out of the car.

The incident, recorded on video by Mendez's wife Marilu Domingo Ortiz, shows ICE agents using a hammer to smash the car window and then seize Ortiz. The family believes Mendez is being held at a facility in Dover, New Hampshire.

“When I arrived on the scene, my client's wife was sobbing. She was crying. She was shaking,” Galvez-Sniffin said, adding that Mendez yelled “Help Me” in Spanish as he was driven away in handcuffs.

“I walked over to the car and I see the busted window, the glass all over the back seat, and I was shocked,” the lawyer added. “I’ve been doing immigration work for 27 years and this was the first time that I saw such violent drastic measures being taken.”

A spokesperson for ICE did not return repeated messages seeking comment.

Another lawyer for Mendez, Ryan Sullivan, said a federal judge in New Hampshire ruled Wednesday that the government must give his attorneys 72 hours notice before moving him anywhere. Sullivan believes that is enough time to determine next steps in his case.

Ortiz and her 9-year-old son have already been given protection under an asylum status over fears of facing persecution if they returned home to Guatemala. Mendez was in the process of applying for what is called derivative asylum, where you can get asylum if a family member already has it.

The woman said she felt “scared” when ICE broke into their car and never expected someone from her family would be detained like this.

“We came here to do honest work. To fight for our family," Ortiz said through a translator. "What they did, or what they’re doing right now, no, it’s not fair. We don’t deserve that treatment.”

Ortiz said she was worried about the toll the detention was taking, especially on her son.

“He has already stopped eating because of what we’re going through," she said. “I just hope that they release my husband so he can come back with us and that my son can be with him as well.”

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, in a post on X, said the incident “raises questions that require clear answers," including why local police weren't alerted beforehand. He also questioned whether ICE agents are targeting criminals as the Trump administration promised or, rather, “engaging in an indiscriminate round-up of individuals with uncertain immigration status.”

Galvez-Sniffin said Mendez had been in the country for four years and worked in the seafood industry in New Bedford. He had no criminal record, she said, and was in the process of applying for asylum. He had been fingerprinted in December, she said, adding nothing turned up in terms of a criminal record.

“There really was no reason to treat him the way that he and his wife were treated.” Galvez-Sniffin said, adding that agents refused to look at the paperwork showing he had applied for asylum.

“My biggest concern, his family's biggest concern is getting him back,” she said. “He has no criminal background and everything to stay for in this country.”

The incident comes as the governor and law enforcement officials in New England have raised concerns about the tactics ICE is using to detain people.

Last month, ICE agent Brian Sullivan took Wilson Martell-Lebron, 49, into custody as he was leaving court. Boston Municipal Court Judge Mark Summerville found Sullivan in contempt, arguing that he deprived Martell-Lebron of his rights to due process and fair trial.

That case has since been dropped but the detention outside court while Martell-Lebron was on trial prompted Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden to call the actions of ICE “troubling and extraordinarily reckless.”

Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk of Turkey, 30, is also challenging her detention by ICE. A video account shows her walking on a street in a Boston suburb as she is surrounded by immigration officials. Ozturk is heard screaming as they take her cellphone and is seen getting handcuffed. Her lawyers have called for her immediate release.