NEW BEDFORD — Juan Mendez’s attorneys filed an emergency motion Wednesday in federal court in New Hampshire to prevent him from being taken out of state again.
The judge agreed to it and has ordered the government to notify his attorneys 72 hours in advance of a possible transfer or removal.
His team is hoping to keep him in New England as this case moves forward.
“The window was completely broken and shattered into a number of pieces,” said Corinn Williams, director of the Community Economic Development Center for Southeastern MA. “His wife Marilu was just devastated and shaken and in tears about what was going on.”
Corinn Williams saw the aftermath of this ICE arrest in New Bedford on Monday, where ICE agents broke a car window to pull a Guatemalan couple out.
They took Juan Francisco Mendez into custody, and he now remains detained in New Hampshire.
Williams’ non-profit helps immigrant families, and she’s in close contact with the Mendez family now.
She says the couple did everything right as they tried to wait for their attorney to arrive since the ICE agents didn’t show a warrant for arrest.
Governor Healey is appalled by the latest incident, calling it “incredibly disturbing.”
"I’m all for getting the bad guys," Healey said. “I investigated, prosecuted, and put away a lot of bad guys including people who are here unlawfully doing bad things, no disagreement, but that’s not what we’re seeing, and it’s not right, and it’s really scary.”
Mendez’s attorneys say he has no criminal record and is in the process of getting legal status, since his wife was already granted asylum last year.
Mendez’s attorneys believe ICE arrested the wrong person, and now this family is devastated.
“They have a little boy who was left behind who’s really suffering because he misses his dad and is really being impacted,” Williams said, “so it has this effect of terrorizing communities, really creating a scar for this child for the rest of his life.”
An ‘ICE’ spokesperson says that Mendez is here “illegally” and they support the actions of the officers on scene, who are trained to use the minimum amount of force necessary.
Mendez has a bail hearing in early May.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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