By MARGARET STAFFORD Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Federal immigration officers trying to arrest a Mexican man who is in the U.S. illegally smashed a car window and dragged him from the vehicle in front of his girlfriend and two young children, prompting condemnation from the woman’s Missouri congressman.
A Facebook Live video taken during the arrest of Florencio Millan-Vazquez in Kansas City on Monday shows Immigration and Custom Enforcement and Kansas City police officers trying to persuade him to leave the vehicle. Millan-Vazquez and his girlfriend, Cheyenne Hoyt, repeatedly ask to see a warrant. After officers warn that they plan to break the window, an immigration officer smashes the glass and others help to drag Millan-Vazquez out of the car.
“I’m still in shock,” a crying Hoyt told The Associated Press Tuesday. “You think that it’s not going to happen to my family, like I never thought this was going to happen. You hear the things (President Donald) Trump says but (Millan-Vazquez) is not a rapist, he’s not a murderer, or a drug dealer. And the way they did it in front of the kids, they didn’t care.”
Hoyt, who shot and posted the video, said they had been on the way to a doctor’s appointment for their disabled 7-month-old daughter when immigration officers blocked them in at their apartment complex and ordered Millan-Vazquez out of the vehicle. The immigration officer asked several times to see proof that Millan-Vazquez is allowed to be in the U.S. and tells the couple that ICE doesn’t need a warrant to arrest someone who has entered the country illegally.
Hoyt acknowledged Millan-Vazquez was in the country illegally but said he is a hard-working chef and family man who never caused any trouble. Immigration officials said Millan-Vazquez re-entered the country twice after being voluntarily deported in 2011 and that he has misdemeanors on his record.
“Millan-Vazquez was uncooperative and refused to exit his vehicle or follow lawfully issued commands issued by ICE and local police,” said Shawn Neudauer, a spokesman for ICE. “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.”
The arrest occurred on the same day the Trump administration announced that it was extending the authority of immigration officers to quickly deport immigrants who have been in the U.S. illegally for less than two years without putting them before a judge.
U.S. Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver of Missouri said on Twitter that he has contacted all parties involved in the arrest to determine what had happened.
“This video is very concerning as to the traumatization of children and the reasonable use of force,” Cleaver wrote.
On the video, the couple’s 11-year-old son is heard crying as the window is broken and his father is taken away. Millan-Vazquez can later be heard asking to say goodbye to his son. An ICE agent turns down his request.
“Right now we’re being extremely nice to you, but what you just put us through, what we had to go through, you’re lucky I’m letting you talk to (Hoyt) right now,” the agent says. “So no, you can talk to him later, she can bring him up to where you’re gonna be and you can see them there.”
