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The arrest is apparently part of “Operation Patriot 2.0” as ICE continues to target people “who are easy to pick up” as they go through the system, a lawyer said.
After a man originally from El Salvador was injured during an encounter where federal immigration agents smashed a car window in Malden last week, his wife, a lawyer and U.S. citizen, is calling for his release.
“It seems like often they may be detaining first and then figuring out the details after, but we have seen a disturbing trend of ICE targeting many people, including long term residents,” his lawyer Maggie Morgan said. “We’ve seen an increase in detentions of people who are in removal proceedings already, who are pursuing cases such as asylum cases. We’ve seen even some detentions of people who actually have valid legal status.”
Edgar Hernan Elias Escobar is being held in the Plymouth County Correctional Facility following his arrest on Sept. 17, according the ICE inmate tracker.
Morgan, a lawyer with Greater Boston Legal Services who is part of Elias Escobar’s legal team, said after the arrest, Elias Escobar, known to friends as Hernan, was transported to the hospital with injuries to his arm.
He was also threatened with a taser after his car window was broken during the arrest, GBLS said, which the group attributes to ICE’s crackdown on Boston as part of its “Operation Patriot 2.0.”
“He was driving from his residence, and he was slightly hit by a vehicle, and masked men who refused to provide identification or share their badges told him to get out of the car,” Morgan told Boston.com, “and he was understandably very frightened.”
ICE targets people in immigration processes ‘who are easy to pick up,’ lawyer says
Elias Escobar is in civil immigration detention and isn’t facing any criminal charges, Morgan said. He has been in the U.S. since 2017, the lawyer said.
His wife, Leslie Perlera Gonzalez, had filed an I-130 petition for Elias Escobar, a petition process to obtain legal residence for relatives that was ongoing when he was detained.
“I lived in constant fear that if my phone rings, something bad is happening,” she told The Boston Globe last week. “Hernan and I have tried really hard to bring peace into our home, and that was shattered on Wednesday.”
ICE has changed tactics, Morgan said, focusing on detaining people “who are easy to pick up,” Morgan said, including “people who have provided information to immigration.”
“Historically, it wasn’t common. There’s a marked departure in how ICE is operating now,” Morgan said about detaining people who are working to obtain legal status. “It also includes people who have filed immigration petitions and applications and who are trying to go through the system.”
A spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security said that agents used “the minimum amount of force necessary” after Elias Escobar refused to roll down his car window.
“Out of an abundance of caution, ICE law enforcement escorted Elias-Escobar to the hospital for evaluations,” the spokesperson said. “Medical staff found he had no injuries and discharged him. He was then escorted to the Boston Field Office for processing and will be placed in removal proceedings.”
Elected officials call for Elias Escobar to be released, widespread reform
During a rally Monday, dozens of residents, family members, and elected officials called for his release, WBZ News reported. A fundraiser notes that the couple had recently started trying to have children.
State Sen. Jeffrey Lewis, state Rep. Kate Lipper-Garabedian, and 11 other local representatives rallied at City Hall Plaza and released a public statement calling for widespread reform.
“He has been a beloved Malden resident for nearly a decade. Hernan works as a roofer in the Greater Boston area, helps care for his aging mother, and he and his wife recently got married,” the statement said. “We call on agents in our community to show visual identification, and to cease the use of these violent tactics. This is essential to allow residents to distinguish between agents and a criminal seeking to assault them.”
Rep. Katherine Clark weighed in as well.
“Hernan Escobar was on his way to work when ICE agents sideswiped his car, shattered his window, and refused to identify themselves,” she wrote on Facebook. “Like so many in Malden, I am disgusted that this systematic terror has made its way into our community. We will get answers, and we will get justice.”
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