Federal immigration agents detained two Guatemalan immigrants in New Bedford’s South End early Friday morning.
According to the family members of the two men detained, the agents were armed, dressed in military fatigues and used a battering ram to enter their home in the city’s South End. They also say the agents – some from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and some from the Drug Enforcement Administration – didn’t show a warrant.
“They have to show a warrant before they come in, they have to say who they’re there for, and that none of that happened,” said Marlene Cerritos, an organizer with Mujeres Victoriosas, a nonprofit focused on supporting women in New Bedford’s immigrant community.
Cerritos finds the lack of a warrant especially unsettling as Mujeres Victoriosas has been focused on educating people in the immigrant community about their legal rights.
“We have been clearly telling folks that they have rights when they have to confront any police, but particularly ICE enforcement,” Cerritos said. “All of that seems [to have], in that instance at least, went out the door.”
The three family members of the detainees who were present in the house when federal immigration agents arrived are all under the age of 19. One of them, a 16-year-old boy, said he was held at gunpoint while handcuffed, according to Adrian Ventura. Ventura is the executive director of the New Bedford-based immigrant advocacy group Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores (CCT).
“This is the first time they are using violence. And using it against minors, putting them at gunpoint as if we were in a war. But ICE is in a war, they’ve declared it so, but they use the rhetoric of calling immigrants criminals,” Ventura said in Spanish. “These young people who were left in the house came to the States legally and have lawyers and everything.”
It’s not clear whether the two men detained have criminal records.
Ventura said he got word of the raid by phone. He arrived at the scene after the agents had finished the operation and were having breakfast outside the property. CCT and Mujeres Victoriosas said they are working with the family after the raid, including by providing mental health resources to three teenagers who were present at the time.
