By Mike Hellgren
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BALTIMORE, Maryland (WJZ) — Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley praised his officers’ response to a call for service after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested two parents outside their children’s Southeast Baltimore school in June.
The parents, Adriana Gavilan Sanchez and her partner, Jesus Acevedo Sanchez, have since been released. A Baltimore-based federal judge also reprimanded ICE for failing to follow due process.
What the body camera video shows Baltimore police officers listened and appeared sympathetic but told a school employee there was not much they could do in response to the June 11 arrests outside Commodore John Rodgers Elementary Middle School.
The ICE activity near the school struck fear among many in the community, who believed the campus was a safe haven.
“They dragged him out of the vehicle, abused him in front of his children and in front of all the teachers here and children here on the property, which we have been informed they cannot do that,” said the school employee who called 911 in response to the ICE arrests.
On a body-worn camera, a Baltimore officer explains to his supervisor what is happening, and the school employee’s belief that ICE should not be on their campus.
“Unfortunately, the political era we are in now, they do what they want, and there are no repercussions,” the supervisor said.
The officer explains why there is little action Baltimore police can take.
“Unfortunately, we can’t get involved in that one,” he told school employees. “Only thing you guys can do is report up and have a school police supervisor contact ICE, but it’s not going to do any good to be honest with you.”
Police explained to the school employees, “How they [ICE] operate and how we operate are two different things. Things they may be able to get—I’m not even going to say get away with—but the things they may be able to do because of Trump just letting them loose, we can’t do. You get what I’m saying?”
On Monday, CBS News Baltimore asked the police commissioner what he thought of the response.
“We got a call for service, so we have to investigate the call for service,” BPD Commissioner Richard Worley said. “They were asking the proper questions to find out if there was anything that we needed to do in reference to the call. They were doing exactly what we’re supposed to do when we get a call for service. They were investigating this to the best of their ability.”
Worley also told CBS News Baltimore, “If ICE makes an arrest, they’re a federal law-enforcement agency. They have the right to make an arrest, and then, we do our part and investigate if there’s something to investigate.”
What happened in the initial encounter The couple was driving their SUV with their children inside just after 7 a.m. June 11 when they noticed someone following them as they pulled out of a Dunkin’ Donuts, according to their attorneys.
The unmarked vehicle with ICE officers inside then tried to pull the vehicle over at Dundalk Avenue and O’Donnell Street.
They cut off his vehicle and slammed on their brakes; then, men wearing all black got out yelling with guns drawn and one broke his driver’s side window, Acevedo Sanchez’s attorney Rachael Savage told Judge Julie R. Rubin last month.
“He was terrified it was a random act of violence,” Savage said.
Her client then drove to his daughter’s school “seeking protection.”
Savage said her client was not questioned until he was placed in the ICE holding facility in downtown Baltimore.
She said at the time of his detention, there were no removal proceedings against him.
“They had no probable cause he was in the U.S. illegally. They had no probable cause to stop him,” Savage said.
Her co-counsel Rachel Girod told the judge, “He thought he was fleeing a carjacker who was coming for him and his elementary school age daughters.”
She said Acevedo Sanchez went to their school because he knew there would be police officers present.
“He was trying to get his daughters to safety,” Girod said.
In an interview with WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren, Girod said, “Wouldn’t anybody [think they were being carjacked]? A man jumps out wearing all black head to toe, breaks your window, and points a gun at you and your little girls in the back seat. You’re going to do whatever you can to protect your family and that’s what he did, and the judge saw it for what it was.”
Government responds Assistant U.S. Attorney Beatrice Thomas told Judge Rubin in court last month the stop was “justified.”
She said it was part of a “targeted enforcement operation” and ICE was trying to determine if Acevedo Sanchez was in the country illegally.
Thomas said ICE ran checks on Acevedo Sanchez that turned up nothing and wanted to question him. She said that is why ICE ordered Acevedo Sanchez to get out of the car.
“He did not comply. He decided to drive over a median, knocking over our officer,” Thomas told the court.
Thomas also claimed the ICE officers “were in fact in uniforms” and insisted they “did have the authority to arrest this person.”
She did not provide specific information when the judge asked what initially led ICE to believe Acevedo Sanchez was in the country illegally.
In her ruling, Judge Rubin noted Acevedo Sanchez entered the United States illegally in 2007 from Mexico. She said he had no criminal record.
His daughters are U.S. citizens.
The Department of Homeland Security issued the following statement to WJZ after the release of the BPD body camera video:
“As our brave law enforcement arrests and removes dangerous criminal illegal aliens, including murderers, rapists, and gang members from our communities, America can be proud of the professionalism our officers bring to the job day-in and day-out. Since Day One, DHS law enforcement has been delivering on President Trump’s promise to the American people to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists. Nearly 70% of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S. More than 3 million illegal aliens are out of the country. We will continue to deliver on the President’s promise to make America safe again.”
Judge criticizes ICE Judge Rubin found the ICE officers initially “did not wear any item that identified themselves” and she believed Acevedo Sanchez account that he thought he was a victim of a carjacking, including that he thought a bullet had pierced his window when the ICE officer broke it with his weapon.
“Out of fear they were going to kill him and his family, he jumped the median to get away when the officer was knocked to the ground,” she read from her ruling in court.
Judge Rubin said the lack of a warrant gave ICE more limited authority, and she was critical of the officers for not immediately identifying themselves and providing Acevedo Sanchez a reason for the arrest.
She said the arrest was a “violation of the framework in place to afford due process.”
Judge Rubin told the courtroom, “His arrest and detention are not justified.”
She also said the lack of records when police searched Acevedo Sanchez’s name in computer databases was no reason to pull him over.
“It is unclear how a negative hit leads them to believe a person is in the U.S. unlawfully,” Judge Rubin said.
She noted a search of her own name would not lead to a “hit” in the system and said there would be no reason for ICE to stop her vehicle.
Girod told WJZ she was “grateful” for the judge’s tough language against the immigration enforcement efforts in this case.
“I think we especially need to consider that language in light of the fact that she said that was her being restrained,” she said.
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