Elsy Noemi Berrios and her daughter, Karen Cruz Berrios, were recently accosted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents even though the two were doing nothing but sitting in their car.
According to the Baltimore Banner, “Their car on a street in Westminster was suddenly surrounded by ICE agents, with at least one wearing a face covering. The agents didn’t present a warrant, according to Cruz Berrios. They shouted orders at the mother to get out of the car.”
When Berrios didn’t exit the vehicle as the agents demanded, “An officer broke her car window, unlocked the door, and removed the mother from the vehicle.”
In the video below, you see how the ICE agents acted like Gestapo officers, with one officer saying, “I don’t need to show you the order” and “I’m not going to give you the order, it’s in the car.”
Seconds later, Berrios was removed from the car and taken into custody as her daughter yelled, “No! You guys cannot take her just because you want to!”
The daughter later said the entire incident had been a horrific nightmare.
“I was nervous. There were a lot of emotions going through my head. I did not expect anything to happen like that.”
“I didn’t know they could do something like that — especially when you hadn’t done anything.”
Here’s the video:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIR4nJgNGb-
Barrios came to the United States from El Salvador and has requested asylum in the United States. But doing so in the Trump Era has become a crime, despite what the law says.
Asked for comment on the incident, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed the woman is an associate of the notorious criminal gang MS-13.
“Americans can rest assured that she is off our streets and locked up. I hope the media will stop doing the bidding of these gangs that murder, maim, rape, and terrorize Americans, while ignoring the innocent victims.”
However, Cruz Barrios says McLaughin is lying.
“No, it’s false. My mother, she works really hard since she was really little, and she never had anything to do with gangs or anything like that.”
Berrios has a hearing before an immigration judge in New Jersey on April 14.
