ICE Agents Accused of Using 5-Year-Old Girl with Autism to Pressure Father in Massachusetts Arrest

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are facing criticism after a family alleged officers briefly held their 5-year-old daughter with autism outside their Massachusetts home in an effort to pressure her father to surrender. Federal officials strongly reject that account, calling it false and offensive.

According to NBC Boston, the incident unfolded last Tuesday in Leominster, when Edward Hip Mejia, a Guatemalan immigrant who has lived in the United States for more than two decades, drove home with his young daughter. His wife told Telemundo that Mejia called her while driving and said he believed he was being followed. According to her, once he reached their home, officers took the girl from his vehicle as he attempted to get inside.

Video obtained by Telemundo shows the child seated beside what appears to be a law enforcement SUV while surrounded by several men identified as ICE agents. The girl's mother can be heard crying out, "They took my daughter, she's 5 years old. She has autism spectrum. Give me my daughter back."

The footage also captures voices of men urging Mejia to come out of the house and show his identification. "Is that your daughter? Come here so I can see those IDs," one agent says in the recording. Mejia responds, "Hey, I can give it through the door."

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin issued a forceful denial, stating, "ICE agents never used a 5-year-old girl as bait. What a disgusting smear." She said Mejia abandoned his daughter in the car after ignoring emergency lights, driving to his home, and then running inside while giving officers obscene gestures.

McLaughlin added that local police recovered the child and returned her safely to her family. The Leominster Police Department has not commented publicly.

Two days after the confrontation, ICE officers returned to the residence and arrested Mejia, his wife told Telemundo. He is currently being held at a detention center in Plymouth. "Officers came out behind my house, arrested him, and took him away. We are not criminals," she said.

The family, which includes two U.S.-born children, maintains that agents acted improperly and traumatized their daughter. Homeland Security insists its agents followed protocol in arresting a man with prior arrests for domestic abuse, strangulation, and vandalism.