Worcester locals formed a ‘human ring’ around the mother and her two children before cops ‘slammed’ her teen daughter’s face into the ground
www.independent.co.uk
Harrowing new video footage reveals the moment a mob of angry
Massachusetts residents descended on federal immigration agents and attempted to thwart their operation to detain a woman with her family.
Neighbors spotted
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials intercepting a mother who was with her teen daughter and her newborn baby at about 11:15 a.m. Thursday on Eureka Street in Worcester. The father was detained by ICE on Wednesday, according to the local immigration justice network LUCE.
The arrests come just weeks after ICE’s acting Director Todd Lyons announced the agency had been preparing for a second “surge” in arrests in the Greater
Boston area, amid President Donald
Trump’s immigration crackdown.
The dramatic video footage, which has since gone viral online, was captured by a witness at the scene and shows the woman clinging to her infant child as ICE agents attempt to arrest her.
A swarm of 25 locals gathered, with one heard demanding to see identification and a warrant and calling to stop the chaos. “We don’t have to show you anything,” an ICE agent reportedly told the crowd.
Immigration officials called upon officers from the Worcester police for backup, with the department describing in a statement how the “unruly” crowd “put their hands on federal agents and Worcester officers.”
The teen then tried to stop the ICE vehicle from leaving by standing in front of it, while holding the baby.
After handing the newborn to a neighbor, the daughter kicked the car, police said. The girl managed to initially evade police officers, who are then seen chasing and restraining her on the ground as she screams, according to separate footage captured by
NBC Boston.
The news station reported that the girl’s “face was slammed into the ground.” The teen was arrested on four charges, including child endangerment, police said.
The woman, whose neighbors told
Boston 25 is of Brazilian descent, gave her baby to her 16-year-old daughter as she was taken into custody.