Cousin of detained teen says ICE threatened family members
Diego Puma Macancela, an undocumented immigrant arrested just hours before his high school prom, has failed in his effort to win extra time in the U.S. Lawyers for the 19-year-old said immigration authorities Wednesday denied their request for a "stay of removal."
Puma Macancela was expected to walk in his graduation ceremony this weekend, but one day after his mother was taken by immigration authorities, he found himself cowering in a closet in his cousin's home while agents prepared to arrest him, reports CBS News correspondent Tony Dokoupil. He and his mother face deportation back to Ecuador.
Federal agents came to Gaby Macancela's Ossining, New York, home last Thursday, looking for her cousin, Puma Macancela.
"We thought, like, they were going to break the doors," Gaby said. "It's really scary cause it's your own house. It's supposed to be safe there."
Puma Macancela spent the night after his mother, Rosa, was detained by immigration authorities the previous day. Puma Macancela and his mother left their native Ecuador in 2014, immigrating from Mexico, through Texas to New York. According to ICE, they were told by an immigration judge last November to leave the U.S.
According to Gaby, agents threatened other members of her family.
"So they said give us Diego, or we take everybody?" Dokoupil asked.
"Yes," Gaby said.
"Did Diego feel like he had to give himself up to save the family?" Dokoupil asked.
"He hugged me and he said, 'Bye, Gaby, this is my wallet. Give it to my dad… Everything is going to be fine. I'm going to be fine,'" Gaby recalled, tearing up.
Ossining Mayor Victoria Gearity saw agents surround the house.
"All of the incidents we've been aware of in the past involved folks that were believed to be dangerous, and in this case it feels very different. Diego and his mother don't seem dangerous to us," Gearity said.
At a hearing on Capitol Hill this week, New York Congresswoman Nita Lowey, who represents Ossining, asked acting ICE Director Thomas Homan whether the teen was "on a priority list."
"So you're going after a student who is graduating and is law-abiding?" Lowey asked.
"He's not law-abiding. He violated law. And was told by an immigration judge you must leave and he failed to do so," Homan said.
"Has what happened to Diego and your aunt changed the way you think of America?" Dokoupil asked.
"America's a good country. It's a good country for all immigrants," said Gaby, who was brought to the U.S. as a child and is protected under the Obama-era DREAM Act.
ICE disputes Gaby's version of events, saying family members were never threatened with removal and that this was a targeted enforcement. An ICE spokeswoman told CBS News: "ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) will not enter a property without permission or a search warrant. ERO officers did speak with the uncle of Diego Macancela who expressed concern about others in the house. ERO officers ensured his uncle that this was a targeted action and only Macancela will be taken in to custody on that day."
The family's legal counsel reports Puma Macancela and his mother are now in the same detention facility in New York after the feds initially held them in separate locations.