PORTLAND, Ore. (KGW/NBCNC) – An Oregon man says Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents illegally entered a home he was working on and detained his coworker by “mistake.”
George Cardenas was part of a crew working on the Portland home and shot video of the incident, which happened on Thursday.
Cell phone video shows several immigration and customs enforcement agents rolling to a home to arrest a man who happens to be working there.
An emotional Arisbet Bolanos is the niece of Carlos Bolanos, the man ice agents are after. She said, “It’s hard to see that you know and the way that they took him it’s kind of embarrassing.”
Throughout the eight minute video, the man recording repeatedly asks the agents to leave: “Honestly I don’t think you guys should even be in here you’re basically trespassing at this moment, right now.”
But the agents refused to budge and refuse to give their names as well, which angers Bolanos’s family. His son, Andre Ruiz, said, “It just got me mad that they did it the way they did it then I was sad at the same time more mad that they did it that way.”
Matt Dos Santos with the ACLU of Oregon says the ICE agents acted illegally. “Again another horrible demonstration of how ice is operating in our communities.” Eventually agents arrest Bolanos but they let him go hours later. “They basically took him to the ICE detention center and when he got there they just told him to leave that he was free to go because it was a mistake,” explained Dos Santos
Bolanos’s tight knit family is relieved he’s free. “The way they arrested him not just for him but for all of our people.”
The following statement was released by ICE about the arrest Thursday night:
“The alien at issue has been released from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody pending further investigation regarding the circumstances of his arrest, and the matter has been referred to the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility and the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General. The Agency is reviewing this incident.”
Following that incident, Oregon lawmakers Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici sent a letter to ice asking why agents didn’t identify themselves to the man.
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