ICE officers break window, drag man out of vehicle in front of family


ICE officers break window, drag man out of vehicle in front of family

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers smashed the driver’s side window of a Missouri man, dragged him out and arrested him in a violent confrontation caught on tape Monday.

ICE officers in Kansas City boxed in a vehicle driven by Florencio Millan-Vazquez, 32, claiming they had a warrant for his arrest for eventual deportation, authorities said.

But when ICE officers wouldn’t show him any papers, Millan-Vazquez refused to get out of his car in a standoff captured on Facebook Live by the mother of his two young children, who were all in the vehicle when the incident unfolded.

“After attempting to negotiate with Millan-Vazquez for about 25 minutes, the ICE officers were left with no other choice than make the arrest by physically removing him from the vehicle,” according to a statement by ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer.

An ICE officer then appears to use a small handheld device to blast Millan-Vazquez’s driver’s side window apart, footage showed. Officers then opened the door, dragged Millan-Vazquez out, put him face down on the pavement and handcuffed him, the video showed.

Millan-Vazquez’s children could be heard whimpering and crying in the background.

“I’m so scared … daddy,” a young male voice could be heard. “I just want to see daddy.”

Kansas City police were on the scene to back up ICE officers, who made the arrest at about 10 a.m. on Monday in front of 4032 Harvard Circle, officials said.

KCPD declined to critique or support the ICE action, or say if it was necessary to bust the driver’s side window.

“That would be a question for ICE to answer, they were the ones that broke the window,” Sgt. Jacob Becchina said.

Millan-Vazquez has misdemeanor offenses on his record and a federal immigration judge, in 2011, ordered him out of the country, according to ICE.

“Millan-Vazquez complied with the judge’s order by returning to Mexico,” Neudauer said in a statement. “However, five days after he returned to Mexico, he was encountered by immigration officials after he illegally re-entered the United States under an assumed name. He was issued an expedited removal order.”

The ICE officer who broke the window suffered minor cuts.

Millan-Vazquez was being held by the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department on Tuesday, jail records showed.

Neudauer said “it should not take long to reinstate” the judge’s order and have Millan-Vazquez deported to Mexico.




Source link