UPDATE: A fourth-degree assault by auto charge filed against Edgar R. Gomez-Ramirez in 2025 was dismissed on May 15, according to court records.A masked immigration agent followed procedures and “carefully” smashed out a car window in order to arrest an undocumented immigrant outside a New Jersey courthouse last week, an agency spokesperson said Monday.Video of the incident outside the Cumberland County Courthouse in Bridgeton showed a masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent using a baton to bust out a window before removing Edgar R. Gomez-Ramirez from his lawyer’s vehicle on Thursday.Gomez-Ramirez, 41, of Vineland, had just left the courthouse and was with his wife when ICE agents descended on the car and ordered him to exit, according to his wife, Deborah Gomez, and their attorney.Deborah Gomez livestreamed the encounter on Facebook and can be heard screaming “No! Stop it! Stop!” and demanding to see a warrant.The ICE agent did nothing wrong when the car window was smashed, an ICE spokesperson said in a statement issued Monday.“On March 26, 2026, ICE officers observed Gomez entering a vehicle and subsequently conducted a lawful stop. Despite clearly identifying themselves as federal law enforcement officers and wearing appropriate law enforcement identifiers, the driver and passengers refused to comply with repeated lawful commands instructing Gomez to exit the vehicle,” the spokesperson said in a statement.The occupants were told that continued refusal to comply “could necessitate breaking the vehicle windows to ensure officer safety,” ICE said.“ICE officers, prioritizing safety and following established protocols, carefully broke the rear passenger side window to safely access and remove Gomez from the vehicle,” the spokesperson said. “Officers followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary to effect the arrest. Resistance to lawful federal enforcement is not protected conduct, it is a deliberate decision that escalates risk to officers, the public, and all individuals involved.”Gomez-Ramirez is undocumented and illegally entered the United States multiple times, the ICE spokesperson said.“Gomez-Ramirez has entered the United States illegally three times and given the opportunity to return voluntarily twice,” according to the statement.He also has pending charges of assault by auto, the ICE statement said.Gomez-Ramirez was in court Thursday for a DWI crash case in which he is charged with fourth-degree assault by auto, according to court records.He had just left that hearing when he was detained.Gomez-Ramirez is being held in the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility in Newark and will receive due process in immigration court, according to ICE.While Deborah Gomez is a U.S. citizen, her husband of nearly 10 years is undocumented, she said last week. He’s been in the country for 25 years and they have been trying for years to get him documented, she said.She denied the claim in the ICE statement that Gomez-Ramirez has entered the country illegally three times. He has been living in the United States since arriving 25 years ago, she said.“He never left and came back,” she said.If he had repeatedly entered the country, that would have derailed his ongoing work to get legal status in the United States, she said.His lawyer, Stephen Guice, called Thursday’s incident stunning and highly problematic. The attorney was stopped at a traffic light when the agents approached his vehicle yelling and screaming.“I asked for a warrant. They didn’t show me a warrant. And then they proceeded to smash in my back window where Edgar was sitting and dented my whole door,” the lawyer said. “It was very stunning to me. I have a problem with it because I don’t think in a democracy such as ours that rogue agents should be doing this kind of action.”ICE activity in Bridgeton has increased in recent months, leaving the local immigrant community fearful, according to immigrant advocates. They say agents have targeted the city of 27,000, where about a quarter of the population are immigrants. Bridgeton’s population is nearly 60% Latino.Members of Greenwich Friends Meeting, a Quaker group, gather in front of the Cumberland County Courthouse in Bridgeton for its weekly Candlelight Compassion Gathering in February. The event is intended to draw attention to the nationwide immigration crackdown that began last year. This spot is near where Edgar Gomez-Ramirez was detained by ICE agents last week.Joe Warner | For NJ Advance MediaThe arrests are part of a nationwide crackdown on undocumented immigrants launched last year by the Trump administration, which said it was targeting the worst offenders.Immigrant advocates say agents are often targeting people with no criminal records.Last week, Deborah Gomez questioned the motives behind her husband’s arrest. She believes immigration agents targeted her family because of her previous work as a rapid response volunteer who monitored ICE agents and posted videos about their activities in the Cumberland County area.Gomez-Ramirez is a productive member of his community who has made a life for himself in New Jersey, his lawyer said.“Edgar had a good job, a very good job. And he could speak English, and he’s been here for years, and he paid taxes, and he didn’t have a criminal record,” Guice said. “That’s what gets me. They’re not just picking up criminals. They’re picking up whoever. I don’t know why they were so intent on getting him, but they were very intent, for sure.”New Jersey leaders have sought to rein in ICE’s activities by blocking the creation of immigration detention centers in the state, creating a database where residents can share videos of ICE operations and by regulating how agents conduct themselves.New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed legislation last week barring ICE agents from wearing masks during interactions with the public in the state. ICE officials criticized the new law and said the agency would not comply.Some of the ICE agents who detained Gomez-Ramirez on Thursday were wearing masks, according to the video of the incident.ICE officials said they will continue carrying out the agency’s duties, even when they meet resistance.“ICE will continue to enforce federal law, and when compliance is refused, ICE officers will take the necessary and lawful actions in accordance with established policy to ensure the safety of all involved,” the spokesperson said.