Father Detained by ICE in Massachusetts After Leaving Church With Family on Mother's Day: 'This is an Abuse'

A migrant man in Chelsea, Massachusetts was detained on Sunday, Mother's Day, after he and his family left church by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.The case quickly gained media traction after a video showed ICE breaking the man's SUV's window, violently throwing him into the ground and handcuffing him.

The video was initially obtained by Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra. It shows the family being detained by ICE agents, who allege they had been following the family's SUV for several blocks after leaving the church. After several minutes of arguing, and with the family refusing to leave their vehicle, the agents smash the car's window and drag a man, throwing him to the ground and handcuffing him.

The rest of the man's family was inside the vehicle, including his wife, children and grandmother, NBC News reports. In the video, the man being held to the ground and with immigration agents on top of him seems confused, repeatedly asking him why they were arresting him.

"This is an abuse, an abuse of rights," said Mario Melendez, a local resident, in Spanish. "They're violating the law, just like breaking into your house, because you're in your car, which he paid for, and they want to violate your rights because you're inside and the person doesn't want to open the door. They have to respect that right."

Kennet Santizo, who recorded the video, told Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra that the mother's screams haunted her.

"I heard her screaming, she said, 'why him? He had papers, he had his license, why him?'," Santizo recalled.

He added that the officer pulled out his gun quickly after the encounter started, which scared him. "I was scared, the gun was in his face, and then he broke the window."

Little information has been shared about the family, or the man's whereabouts after ICE arrested him. Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra reached out to ICE for comment, but no response was immediately given.

But reports say that the family remained silent in the vehicle after the father was taken into custody, following advice widely given to undocumented migrants. Residents and council members say ICE is violating the law by carrying out these arrests.

"Immigration agents and other agents are taking actions that are illegal. They don't care much about law and order," Chelsea Councilman Roberto Jimenez Rivera said. "They are simply taking action, and we have taken action to sue them and maintain that we are respecting people's rights. The city has already sued the administration for things they are doing to us that are illegal."

This isn't the first aggressive encounter from ICE that the state sees. Just last week, also in Chelsea, three young men and one of their fathers were arrested by ICE as they left the Chelsea police station. Likewise, in New Bedford, last month agents were seen taking a man into custody after breaking his car window.