ICE arrests Mexican citizen in Whatcom County Friday; immigration advocates protest
The arrest of a Mexican man by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Whatcom County Friday has angered immigration advocates who say he was treated poorly.
ICE and Removal Operations officers arrested Mexican citizen Medardo Cruz-Ventura Jan. 24 near Everson for illegally entering the United States, according to an ICE press release.
During the Friday incident, Cruz-Ventura ignored lawful commands and refused to exit or unlock his vehicle, according to the ICE press release. Officers told Cruz-Ventura in both Spanish and English that he was required to open his car door, or they would break the window to arrest him, the release states.
After 30 minutes, ICE officers warned other occupants of the vehicle to shield themselves, shattered the window and removed Cruz-Ventura, the release states. There were no injuries during the arrest, according to the press release.
On social media, Community to Community Development, a Bellingham immigrant and farmworker rights group, said ICE officers did not speak to Cruz-Ventura in Spanish and that the family was trying to contact local advocates and an interpreter.
Community to Community, who said they are in contact with Cruz-Ventura’s wife who was in the car during the arrest, said the ICE officers didn’t identify themselves and used language that frightened Cruz-Ventura and his family, the social media post reads.
Community to Community said Cruz-Ventura did not resist, and that he suffered injuries to his face and mouth from the arrest, according to the social media post.
“In ICE’s statement they claim that what they did to that family today was legal. We know from history that what is legal is not always the same as what is right,” said Liz Darrow, media outreach and legal research advocate for Community to Community. “If the law says that they can pull people from their beds in the middle of the night and set fire to their houses, are we going to turn a blind eye to that violence? All we have is what is right. It is what we have always fought for and we will continue to fight for it.”
Several people protested outside the holding facility in Ferndale on Friday after news of Cruz-Ventura’s arrest spread, and U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Everett, said her office was seeking further information on the situation, according to social media posts.
The Bellingham Herald has reached out to DelBene and the advocacy group for comment.
U.S. Border Patrol provided back-up during the arrest at the request of ICE, Jason Givens, a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.
“Cruz-Ventura made a knowing choice to refuse to comply with the law,” Nathalie Asher, field office director for ICE and Removal Operations in Seattle, said in a prepared statement. “This is routine law enforcement work. When individuals refuse to comply with law enforcement officers’ commands, they escalate the situation and these types of actions become necessary.”
Cruz-Ventura has been voluntarily returned to Mexico in lieu of formal deportation proceedings in front of a federal immigration judge on three times between 2000 and 2012, the ICE press release states. Cruz-Ventura has been arrested by U.S. Border Patrol on multiple occasions, the release stated.
Cruz-Ventura has a conviction out of Arizona for illegal entry from May 2012, and was deported to Mexico the same day, the ICE release states. Four months later, Cruz-Ventura was again deported from the United States, it said.
Cruz-Ventura is currently in the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, pending further immigration proceedings, the press release states.
People being processed for deportation appear before federal immigration judges in the immigration courts, which are administered by the Executive Office for Immigration Review, an agency affiliated with the U.S. Department of Justice, and is separate from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE, the release states.
This story was originally published January 24, 2020 at 8:54 PM.
