Mum records moment immigration agents smash car window before dragging husband away

A woman filmed a terrifying incident of (ICE) agents shattering her car window on Monday amid the Trump administration's alarming crackdown on migrants and asylum seekers.

Marilu Mendez from Massachusetts informed NBC News that the agents had been tailing her and her husband before they encircled her vehicle. At this point, she decided to start recording the encounter on her phone.

Marilu revealed to the news outlet that the agents were primarily interested in her husband, Juan, but kept mistakenly referring to him as Antonio - the name of another resident in their building. Convinced that this was a case of , Marilu promptly contacted their lawyer, who advised the couple to remain in the car and refrain from providing the agents with any information until she arrived.

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

Their legal representative, Ondine Galvez Sniffin, told NBC10 Boston that her client, Juan Mendez, is an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala who is currently in the process of altering his immigration status. Sniffin stressed to the station that Mendez has no criminal record and is in the country claiming asylum.

The ICE agents, however, appeared uninterested in waiting for Sniffin to reach the scene and opted to take extreme measures to extract the family from the car. As depicted in the video, agents can be seen wielding what appears to be a large hammer-like tool to smash the car window and forcibly remove the couple from the vehicle.

"They looked for a hammer and they broke the car window and dragged us out of the car," Marilu recounted to Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra in Spanish. "Three ICE agents held my husband. They took us out unjustly... I tried to talk to them and ask them if they had an order to detain him. They didn't respond or show me anything.

"They had no reason to detain him. We've been following the rules of this country. We are doing things the right way. That's why we have a lawyer."

Sniffin has now revealed that Juan Mendez is being detained at an ICE centre in Dover, New Hampshire, with his hearing set for May 7.

"My clients were within their rights, they were very respectful and following and exerting their rights and stating their right to remain silent and stating their right to have legal representation and they were met with brutality," Galvez Sniffin told NBC News. "They were met with violence."

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell made a statement on social media about the incident.

"The incident raises questions that require clearer answers," he stated. "Recently, ICE appears to have broken from its long-standing practice of alerting our police department ahead of planned operations, a decision that poses safety risks to officers, ICE agents, and the public alike. It also may preclude opportunities for local police to help deescalate tense situations like this last one."

Mitchell pointed out a concerning lack of focus in ICE's recent operations, stressing that there was no clear sign they were targeting known criminals. Instead, it appeared to be "an indiscriminate round up of individuals with uncertain immigrant status."

He insisted that the people in his community deserved answers from President Trump.