A day after Worcester police held a teenage girl's face on the ground while federal immigration agents detained her mother, family members are speaking out about the ordeal.
In an incident Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra captured on video Thursday, local police are seen alongside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Eureka Street. A large crowd of community members forms, with some shouting, "You're not supposed to work with ICE!"
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WATCH HEREWorcester officers pinned a 16-year-old girl to the ground, arresting her and another woman, 38-year-old Ashley Spring. ICE took the teenager's mother into custody.
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SIGN UP Augusta Clara, the arrested girl's 21-year-old sister, also appears in the video, holding her newborn baby.
"I'm very traumatized by everything that happened yesterday," Clara told Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra in Spanish Friday.
She said her two sisters — the 16-year-old who was arrested and a 13-year-old — are now in the care of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families.
Clara added that her sister did not deserve to be treated the way she was. She said things got out of hand when she tried to go to the bathroom to change the baby, and the federal agents resisted.
Her family has been torn apart, she said — the day before police arrested her sister and ICE detained her mother, her baby daughter's father was also arrested by ICE.
The family's attorney, Andrés Latarulo, said Clara's mother is seeking asylum, and her three daughters are in the country under a deferred action program.
"She didn't commit any crime, she doesn't have a deportation order, so there's no reason why immigration would want to detain her mother," Latarulo said in Spanish.
Worcester police said they responded at 11:13 a.m. to a report that a group of 25 people had surrounded a federal agent on Eureka Street.
"When officers arrived on scene, they observed a chaotic scene with several federal agents from various agencies attempting to take a female into custody," the department said in a news release. "Federal agents had placed this female under arrest and were attempting to leave in a vehicle. The crowd was unruly, and several people were putting their hands on federal agents and Worcester officers in an attempt to keep the vehicle and the arrestee from leaving. Worcester officers attempted to deescalate the situation and keep everyone safe."
"The series of events was no doubt disturbing and the footage of a family being separated is harrowing," City Manager Eric Batista said in a statement. "Worcester police were dispatched to the scene after several emergency calls for assistance. Unfortunately, two individuals were arrested after several attempts by WPD officers to deescalate the chaotic situation, which included the endangerment of an infant."
