Family's Plea: Asylum Applicant Detained in Controversial ICE Arrest

A Massachusetts family is demanding answers from ICE following a dramatic car window smash and arrest of Juan Francisco Mendez, an asylum hopeful. His wife documented the event in New Bedford, sparking legal and community backlash. The incident questions ICE's tactics and raises accountability concerns.

A Massachusetts family is raising serious concerns about the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, who forcibly detained asylum applicant Juan Francisco Mendez after smashing his car window in New Bedford.

According to the family's lawyer, Ondine Galvez-Sniffin, the agents made no attempt to verify Mendez's asylum application status before his Monday arrest. The target was a different individual, but ICE dragged Mendez and his wife from their vehicle, a move caught on video by his wife, Marilu Domingo Ortiz.

The incident, which has shaken both family members and local community leaders, has sparked legal intervention. A federal judge ordered the government to notify Mendez's attorneys before any transfer, providing some hope as questions of ICE's arrest practices intensify among officials in New England.

(With inputs from agencies.)