DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin on Tuesday firmly refuted a report by NBC News that accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents of using a 5-year-old autistic girl as “bait” to capture her father, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, in Massachusetts.
A video acquired by Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra depicts the girl seated beside a law enforcement SUV, holding a bottle, as several male officers stand around her outside her Leominster home last Tuesday.
NBC reported that the father, Edwards Hip Mejia, informed his wife he suspected he was being followed and drove back to their home. Upon arrival, he allegedly ran toward the parking lot, and according to the wife’s account to Telemundo, agents “grabbed” their daughter.
“Disgusting smears like these peddled by the media are leading to a 1000% increase in assaults against our brave law enforcement,” she added.
According to NBC Boston, local police recovered the girl when they arrived and returned her to her family.
Mejia was ultimately detained two days later, his wife told Telemundo, and is being held in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
