The 18-year-old and her mother — Elsy Noemi Berrios, 52 — planned to ride to work together, which happened daily in the month of March. Cruz Berrios recently started as a seamstress where her mom had worked for the past five years.
But March 31 was different for Cruz Berrios.
Their car on a street in Westminster was suddenly surrounded by ICE agents, with at least one wearing a face covering. The agents didn’t present a warrant, according to Cruz Berrios. They shouted orders at the mother to get out of the car.
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The mother and daughter believed the agents had been after her undocumented mother. That’s because ICE officers previously came to the family’s Westminster home twice but were denied entry each time.
“They didn’t have a warrant. They knew their rights. ICE went away,” said Halle Blitzstein, the mother’s Baltimore-based attorney.
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“I don’t need to show you the order,” an officer said in Spanish. Most of the video includes the officer speaking in Spanish, but the voice was barely audible in the video because the car window was partially rolled up.
“I’m not going to give you the order, it’s in the car,” the officer said just before the mother was taken from the car.
“No!” the daughter screamed. “You guys cannot take her just because you want to.”
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The government said that Berrios’ apprehension was driven in part because she is an associate of the violent gang MS-13, which has Salvadoran roots.
“Americans can rest assured that she is off our streets and locked up. I hope the media will stop doing the bidding of these gangs that murder, maim, rape, and terrorize Americans, while ignoring the innocent victims,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote in an email. McLaughlin did not respond to a request for details of Berrios’ alleged gang behavior.
Cruz Berrios and her mother’s attorney vehemently deny that Berrios has a connection to gang membership.
