Video shows ICE with 5-year-old girl while agents attempt to arrest her father

nbcnews.com · By Matt Lavietes · 2025-09-23T22:32:21.873Z

A video obtained by Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra shows Immigration and Customs Enforcement with a 5-year-old girl, whose mother says is autistic, while agents attempt to arrest her father near their Massachusetts home.The video, provided to Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra by the girl’s mother, depicts the girl sitting beside an SUV with three agents nearby outside her home in Leominster last Tuesday. Her father at the time was inside.The girl’s mother told Telemundo — which is owned and operated by NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News — that her husband called her while he was driving with their daughter shortly before the incident and told her he thought he was being followed. Obtained by TelemundoHer husband, Edward Hip Mejia, drove home and “managed to run back into the parking lot of my house,” she said, and her daughter as a result was left with the agents.“They took my daughter, she’s 5 years old. She has autism spectrum,” the girl’s mother is heard telling agents in the video. “Give me my daughter back.”Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that Mejia “ignored law enforcement emergency lights to pull over and drove back to his house. He fled from the car, gave officers the double middle finger, and darted inside his house. He abandoned his 5-year-old daughter in the car. Officers helped rescue the child and called local police to report the abandonment.”Across the United States, people are describing their encounters with ICE agents as they pursue parents and others as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration.Mejia is originally from Guatemala and has lived in the United States for about 25 years, according to his wife, who asked that her name not be published. The pair share two children who were born in the United States, she said.The video appears to show authorities outside the home communicating with the father.“Is that your daughter? Come here so I can see those IDs,” a man who appears to be an immigration agent can be heard saying in the video.“Hey, I can give it through the door,” Mejia is heard saying in response.The agent then points to the ground in front of himself and tells Mejia he can give the ID to him “right here.”NBC Boston reported that local police then arrived at the scene, recovered the child and returned her to her family. She is doing well, her mom told Telemundo.Leominster police did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Authorities went back to the home two days later and detained Mejia, his wife said. He is being held at an ICE detention center in Plymouth, she said. “Officers came out behind my house, arrested him, took him away,” she told Telemundo. “We are not criminals.”CORRECTION (Sept. 23, 2025): An earlier version of this article mischaracterized the activities of ICE agents in the video. The article has been updated.