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ICE used autistic 5-year-old to ‘lure’ Leominster father, family’s lawyer says

“They had his address, and they had his attorney's name. They had all the information they needed to do this in a different manner," his lawyer said.

The 5-year-old girl stands for a portrait with her mother and sisters after federal agents detained their father, Edwards Hip. Craig F. WalkerG/The Boston Globe

By Molly Farrar

September 29, 2025

3 minutes to read

A Leominster man was detained by federal immigration officials two days after a dramatic confrontation two days earlier in which agents used his autistic 5-year-old daughter “to try to lure both he and his wife out of the house,” his lawyer said.

“They’re a bit more terrified because of that to go out,” lawyer Jacob Geller told Boston.com, referring to their daughter’s autism. “Mr. Hip’s wife has not left her apartment since that period because she was the only person there to take care of her daughter.”

Edwards Hip, originally from Guatemala, has been in the country since 2000, Geller said. Hip has been in deportation proceedings for about five years after a previous asylum request, Geller said, before ICE followed his car from his Ash Street home Sept. 16.

Hip was driving his daughter to a medical appointment when he “noticed some suspicious blacked out window vehicle and turned around because he was concerned about it,” Geller said. He called his wife, rolled down the window for his daughter, who is an American citizen, and went inside to call the police.

“Your daughter? Come here so we can see some IDs,” one of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents said in a video obtained by The Boston Globe.

“I can give it to you through the door,” Hip appears to reply. The agent says “No, you can do it right here,” gesturing to the daughter.

Local police took the daughter to the police station, Geller said, where a family member picked her up. Two days later, ICE detained Hip on his way to work, with agents apparently waiting for him and pulling him over as he pulled out of his driveway, the lawyer said.

Hip is currently being held at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility, Geller confirmed.

“They had his address, and they had his attorney’s name. They had all the information they needed to do this in a different manner,” Geller said. “This really did appear to be meant only for the purposes of scare tactics. I don’t see any other reason that they couldn’t have tried to contact us to do this willingly or figure out a way around it.”

DHS declines claims that agents lured man outside with daughter

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin slammed the claim that ICE agents tried to lure the parents out of their home using their child.

“ICE agents NEVER used a 5-year-old girl as ‘bait’ – what a disgusting smear. The facts are the criminal illegal alien target of the operation – with previous arrests for domestic abuse, strangulation, and vandalizing property – abandoned his own child in a car,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “Officers helped rescue the child and called local police to report the abandonment.”

Hip, as well as his wife, were both facing charges related to a domestic fight between them in Leominster District Court in January 2024, according to court records. Prosecutors dropped all charges against both Hip and his wife, who have three daughters, a few months later, court records show.

In May, ICE agents reportedly used a Worcester woman’s grandchild as “bait” when the woman rushed out of her home to take custody of the infant during a confrontation between agents and her daughter.

ICE agents use “ruse” tactics to lure people they have targeted for arrest into public spaces, such as outside a home, according to the Immigrant Defense Project. The organization claims agents “are allowed and encouraged to use ruses,” including impersonating police.

In response, Geller said it clearly appears ICE was “using their daughter to get them to come out of the house.”

“They had already walked up the driveway to specifically pull her out of the car, to bring her to the bottom of the driveway, which requires intention,” Geller said, “so I find it hard to believe that there was no intent there.”