A child was abandoned on the street during a federal immigration operation this month in Waltham, Massachusetts, according to a member of city government.
A video provided to Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra by Waltham City Councilor Colleen Bradley-MacArthur shows officers leave the child on a sidewalk on Fenton Street after arresting someone the child was walking with.
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WATCH HEREBradley-MacArthur said she recorded the video while working with others on a volunteer neighborhood watch walk.
Masked officers blocked the road in several vehicles, and one drove right past her, she said. When she asked which agency they were from, the councilwoman says the officer told her, "You stay here and don't interfere."
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SIGN UP Bradley-MacArthur says she backed away and stayed away while she continued recording with her phone.
"I couldn't believe that they would just leave someone there," Bradley-MacArthur said. "The masks, right — that's so frightening to see masked men blocking the road, with the lights and the sirens."
She said she was angry and scared for the child.
"Honestly, like, it felt like our community — seeing the video today — is under siege," she said.
According to the councilwoman, the officers left and did not provide assistance to the child to return home. Other volunteers who were with Bradley-MacArthur escorted the child home on foot.
On Wednesday, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin shared a statement about what happened, saying a parent that officers contacted declined to pick the child up, and the boy was allowed to walk home, which was nearby.
“ICE officers conducted a vehicle stop and encountered an adult male drive and 13-year-old passenger—the adult was not the minor’s parent. The driver was an illegal alien and was taken into ICE custody. Officers helped the 13-year-old contact a parent. The parent was informed of the situation and the child’s location and declined to pick up their son. The parent confirmed that the residence was nearby and elected for the child to walk home within short walking distance,” the statement said.
The department initially said the child was 12, but later corrected his age to 13.
Several ICE arrests have been reported in Waltham in recent weeks.
On Tuesday morning, two men were traveling in the same vehicle when they were arrested by ICE agents. The second was forcibly removed when agents asked him for identification and then smashed the window of the van.
Federal agents' vehicles were also seen outside the district courthouse last week.
