Zeneyda Barrera, 18, originally from Nicaragua, has legal status in the U.S. Still, she was in a Massachusetts courthouse facing a misdemeanor charge after a noise complaint from a neighbor. The teen pushed her brother during an argument over a cell phone. Then, ICE appended Zeneyda.
“The allegation is that she pushed him to the floor,” Barrera’s attorney, Patrick Callahan, said. “That was the extent of the allegation,” he said, noting that there were no injuries to the 12-year-old “whatsoever.”
MassLive reports:
Hours after the incident, however, officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apprehended Barrera before her arraignment at Lynn District Court, Callahan said. Court records show Barrera was charged with one count of assault and battery, a misdemeanor.
“This was a minor, minor case,” Callahan said. “Things that happen with any household that have children in their preteen to teens.”
“It threw me for a loop when they (ICE) placed her into custody,” Callahan said, since Barrera’s mother told him that her daughter has legal status in the United States. “It’s unusual for (ICE) to pick up an individual with legal status and not convicted of a crime. That usually doesn’t happen.”
The mayor is concerned that the teenager will be deported:
Lynn Mayor Jared Nicholson expressed concern about how Barrera was separated from her family and is at risk of being deported into an “impossible situation.”
“Her mother is desperately trying to understand what is happening,” the mayor said in a statement to MassLive.
“We have been told that ICE would be targeting violent offenders whose presence puts our community at risk,” Nicholson said. “Based on what we have learned so far, that is not what is happening in this case. The facts here show that in order to genuinely partner with communities on public safety, ICE needs to take all the circumstances into account.”
And Donald announced yesterday that he was going to send migrants to Guantánamo Bay. I'm sure he'll see this teenager as a significant threat for (checks note) pushing her brother.
