Political leaders in Maryland are calling for investigations into the conduct of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers as they clashed with protesters during a federal operation in a local community.
Residents of Frederick, a city about ۵۰ miles north-west of Baltimore, are still shaken more than a week after ICE officers arrived in numerous vehicles and could be seen on video footage using batons on members of the public and driving their cars on to the sidewalk towards people.
At one point during the occurrences last Thursday and Friday, approaching the Labor Day weekend, protesters sat down in a line across the road linking arms, and also tried to block the doorway to a residential address as ICE personnel approached. Officers went inside the home but left without appearing to have made any arrests.
Federal officers arrived last Thursday, attracting grassroots activists who watch out in communities and warn people when ICE vehicles or agents are spotted. Protests quickly began and then grew.
Cesar Diaz, the president of Frederick city council, heard news of a confrontation and said he rushed to the scene. He said he had to step out of the way to avoid being hit by an ICE vehicle and saw a colleague, Katie Nash, the vice-president of the council, have to do the same.
“I had to move so I wouldn’t get hit, and the vice-president did too. There was no warning at all. The vehicle was one foot away from her,” Diaz told the Guardian earlier this week.
“We were there to show people that they had our support, and so the officers would see it too,” he said. Diaz estimated around ۲۰۰ protesters gathered quite quickly, carrying signs and singing.
At that point, four or five ICE vehicles were in the area, he said, a number that grew to eight or nine by last Thursday evening.
Other witnesses reported that some residents were scared to leave their homes and go to work. Some required help to make sure their kids, who were coming off the school bus on Thursday afternoon, would be safe walking home.
Protesters can be heard on video footage of the demonstration chanting “Go home”, “Leave Frederick” and “Leave Maryland” at the gathered federal personnel.
ICE said in a statement to local media that they were in the area in “an effort to arrest a man” during a vehicle stop last Thursday morning but the man fled the scene, the Frederick News-Post reported. After that more ICE officers arrived and tensions escalated.
In the evening, ICE officers confronted protesters by driving their vehicles towards them, as seen in bystander footage, and videos shared by the Hagerstown Rapid Response activist group also showed officers approaching a home. It was then that some protestors tried to stop them from reaching the building by creating a human chain, and violence erupted.
Officers in tactical vests can be seen raising batons and hitting at least one protester about their body, while others are dragged and shoved.
“The level of violence went beyond what the situation called for. It was too much. It exceeded what is permitted,” Diaz said, saying that at least two people had to go to the hospital due to injuries. “There are many other options when dealing with unarmed people.”
He called for an investigation, as did Congresswoman April McClain Delaney, whose district includes the city, calling the incidents deeply concerning.
In a statement, Delaney said: “No family should be afraid to leave their home or feel unsafe in their own neighborhood … I am especially disturbed by reports that ICE agents used force against Frederick residents. These allegations demand immediate answers and a full, transparent investigation.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the parent agency of ICE, did not respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.
In an earlier statement to local network WBAL-TV, the agency declined to comment “for operation security” and “the safety” of their personnel.
DHS told the outlet that “criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the US”.
Frederick authorities said they were not aware of any ICE or local arrests. Frederick police said personnel were dispatched to try to de-escalate the situation.
Police chief Kevin Meyer said his officers asked ICE whether they had an arrest warrant but that federal officers refused to discuss it.
Soolah Kemp, a member of Hagerstown Rapid Response, said she was recording video when an ICE car drove in her direction. “I heard the siren, I turned, and he was coming at me. He sped up, so I jumped out of the way. He had enough room on the street to not have an issue. He didn’t have to do what he did,” she said.
She has filed a report of the incident with the state attorney general’s office, she said.
US senator Chris Van Hollen has demanded an immediate investigation into events and said “[Donald] Trump’s ICE operations are not about making our country safer, they are about creating chaos and instilling fear in our communities”.
Tatiana Santos, of the activist network Indivisible Frederick Forward, said that the ICE conduct she witnessed was “unconscionable”.
“These people were so peaceful in the defense of their immigrant neighbors. They were simply standing and chanting things like: ‘We shall not be moved,’” she said.
She has asked Maryland governor Wes Moore to speak out and called for him to conduct an investigation.
Moore’s office said in a statement the governor was working with local leaders to “address what happened and make sure that there is real accountability”.
Lex McMenamin contributed reporting
