Marilu Domingo Ortiz said when ICE vehicles began following her and her husband Monday and then surrounded their car on Tallman Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts, she took out her cell phone and started recording.
Her video shows a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent using a large hammer to break the back passenger window of their car. It has raised concerns from state and local officials.
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WATCH HEREDomingo Ortiz said the agents were focused on her husband, Juan Francisco Mendez, but kept calling him “Antonio” – the name of another man who lives in their building.
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Thinking this was just a case of mistaken identity, Mendez and Domingo Ortiz called their lawyer, who told them to stay in the car and not give the agents any information until she got there.
Their attorney, Ondine Galvez Sniffin, told NBC10 Boston that Mendez is a Guatemalan immigrant who is undocumented but in the process of changing his immigration status and has no criminal record. Domingo Ortiz is in the country on asylum.
But instead of waiting for their lawyer, the ICE agents smashed the car window, broke into the vehicle and dragged the couple out.
“They looked for a hammer and they broke the car window and dragged us out of the car," Domingo Ortiz told Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra in Spanish. "Three ICE agents held my husband. They took us out unjustly ... I tried to talk to them and ask them if they had an order to detain him. They didn’t respond or show me anything. They had no reason to detain him. We’ve been following the rules of this country. We are doing things the right way. That’s why we have a lawyer.”
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Their attorney said Mendez was being held in a detention facility in Dover, New Hampshire.
"My clients were within their rights, they were very respectful and following and exerting their rights and stating their right to remain silent and stating their right to have legal representation and they were met with brutality," Galvez Sniffin said. "They were met with violence."
An emergency hearing was held on the case Wednesday, with a judge in a New Hampshire federal court noting in an order that Mendez had no apparent criminal record and that he is considering a request from Mendez to halt the government's actions — the government has agreed to give three days' notice if it plans to move Mendez out of New Hampshire's Strafford County House of Corrections.
Asked about the case, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, "DHS will continue its efforts to remove illegal aliens from American communities. The American people voted for immigration enforcement and President Trump and Secretary Noem are delivering."
New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell issued a statement on social media on Tuesday.
"The incident raises questions that require clearer answers," he said. "Recently, ICE appears to have broken from its long-standing practice of alerting our police department ahead of planned operations, a decision that poses safety risks to officers, ICE agents, and the public alike." It also may preclude opportunities for local police to help deescalate tense situations like this last one."
Mayor @JonMitchellNB issued the following statement on Monday’s ICE apprehension in New Bedford: pic.twitter.com/REY5uA7cJU
— City of New Bedford (@NewBedford_MA) April 15, 2025
Mitchell said there has been no indication from ICE whether its agents are focusing on the apprehension of convicted criminals or is engaging in "an indiscriminate round up of individuals with uncertain immigrant status." He added that the public deserves an explanation from the Trump administration.
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin pushed back on his comments, saying in a statement Wednesday, "The New Bedford Mayor should check his facts. New Bedford Police Department was notified prior to ICE’s enforcement action."
She added that, "DHS will continue its efforts to remove illegal aliens from American communities. The American people voted for immigration enforcement and President Trump and Secretary Noem are delivering."
