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New Bedford mayor calls for transparency from ICE after agents smash car window, detain Guatemalan man
“I think what we saw in the video requires an explanation,” Mayor Jon Mitchell said.
The mayor of New Bedford is calling for more transparency from federal immigration agents after a Guatemalan national, who entered the country illegally, was detained Monday, the man’s lawyer said.
Mayor Jon Mitchell spoke to reporters Wednesday afternoon in response to a video circulating of the arrest, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shattered a couple’s car window with a sledgehammer. Mitchell said he didn’t know if the man had a record.
“I think what we saw in the video requires an explanation,” Mitchell said. “It didn’t seem like it was warranted, but there may have been some facts not known to the public that might have justified it. We’re just not hearing anything.”
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Juan Francisco Méndez, 29, was detained when he and his wife were pulled over Monday, his attorney Ondine Galvez Sniffin said. He has no criminal record, according to his lawyer, and a search of available court records in New Bedford yielded no results.
The couple kept their windows rolled up while talking to federal immigration officers, according to a video of the incident, telling the officers in Spanish they were awaiting their lawyer and asking if the agents had an arrest warrant.
An immigration officer tells Francisco Méndez and his wife in Spanish that they could do it the easy or hard way, saying the couple could open the door for the agents to take him or they would break the window. When Francisco Méndez’s wife reiterates that they are awaiting their lawyer, another officer uses a large sledgehammer to break a backseat window to gain entry before the video ends.
Mayor: New Bedford is not a sanctuary city
Mitchell emphasized that New Bedford is not a sanctuary city, saying ICE has no reason to not keep city officials appraised of their plans.
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“I want criminals removed from the streets of New Bedford, and I don’t care where they’re from… but it should matter to everybody if these people are not criminals,” Mitchell said. “There shouldn’t be any reluctance to share with New Bedford because New Bedford’s not going to cause a problem.”
In a statement, ICE confirmed that Francisco Méndez entered the United States illegally and said he was served a notice to appear before an immigration judge when he was arrested. The agency defended the officers’ actions.
“During the course of his arrest, he refused to comply with officers’ instructions and resisted apprehension,” a spokesperson said. “ICE concurs with the actions deemed appropriate by the officers on the scene who are trained to use the minimum amount of force necessary to resolve the situation in a manner that ensures the success of the operation and prioritizes the safety of our officers.”
Francisco Méndez’s wife and 9-year-old son were both granted asylum status last year, and Francisco Méndez filed his paperwork a few months later, his lawyer said. He entered the country without legal authorization in 2021, she said.
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“If he had been in court with her, he would have simultaneously received asylee status from the immigration judge, but because he never turned himself in, because he was not in proceedings, he wasn’t able to get that protection at the same time formally,” Galvez Sniffin said, “but essentially by virtue of being married, he’s also an asylee.”
Currently, he’s being held at Strafford County Corrections in Dover, New Hampshire. His lawyer said he has a hearing scheduled for next month.
While Mitchell supports deporting criminals, he said, he said the federal government should not be “rounding up individuals indiscriminately.”
“It’s quite a different thing to be rounding people up, and especially when there are estimates of somewhere between 10 to 20 million people in the United States without valid immigration status,” Mitchell said.
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