'Where Is Our Humanity?': Anger After ICE Tried to Arrest Father Who Held Crying Toddlers
"Trump and ICE are traumatizing our children, ripping apart families, and terrorizing our communities," said Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley. "The cruelty is the point."
Anger mounted Thursday following the publication of video footage showing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents attempting to arrest a father carrying his two distraught toddlers while on his way to work in Providence, Rhode Island.
The man, whose middle name is Sebastian—he did not want to disclose his full name—is originally from Guatemala. He told The Boston Globe that he was taking his children to their babysitter before heading off to work in construction.
The video, recorded by a bystander, shows three ICE agents, two of them masked, on a residential street, trying to arrest Sebastian as he holds a crying child in each arm.
The ICE agents repeatedly ordered the woman recording the interaction to stand back, eventually threatening to pepper spray her if she didn't stay at least 25 feet away from them.
The agents were apparently uncertain how to proceed.
“This gentleman has two kids,” one of them said into a handheld radio while holding on to Sebastian's arm. “You wanna keep him or let him go?”
They decided to let him go, but told him to report to ICE on Wednesday or risk the arrest of his whole family.
According to the Globe, Sebastian has no criminal record in Rhode Island.
US Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) was among the Democratic officials who condemned the arrest attempt and President Donald Trump's wider deadly immigration crackdown.
"No Rhode Islander can watch this video of a man trying to keep his children safe and think the actions of these federal agents are acceptable," he said on social media. "Surely we can acknowledge that traumatizing toddlers on the streets of Providence is a betrayal of our values as Americans."
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) asked: "Where is our humanity? How is this keeping anyone safe?"
"Trump and ICE are traumatizing our children, ripping apart families, and terrorizing our communities," she added. "The cruelty is the point."
The encounter left Sebastian's family fearing for their future. His wife, Petronila, told the Globe that she's afraid that if they leave home, they may never return.
“Are they going to detain us, take us away?” she asked. “What is going to happen, what are we going to do?”