Dozens of residents and elected officials in Malden, Massachusetts rallied Monday in support of Hernan Escobar, who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents while on his way to work last week. 

"He's going to feel so loved. So supported. He is so grateful, as I am, for all of you here," Escobar's wife Leslie Perera Gonzalez said at the rally. She said that her husband is a good man who does things for others and has been taking care of his ailing mother. 

"I can tell you what kind of a man my husband is," Gonzalez said. "When my best friend and sisters would stay over at my apartment, he would take the couch so we girls could take the bed. My husband believes that a good deed is done in silence."

Gonzalez's cousin, Frank Pinto, said that Escobar believes in, "improving and making a better life for yourself and your loved ones."

"He's respectful and considerate," Pinto said. "He's a good New Englander. He's reserved, doesn't intrude on your life. But if you ever need anything, he'll be the first one there to help."  

Hernan Escobar detained by ICE

Gonzalez said that she was on the phone with her husband when ICE agents surrounded his pickup truck, smashed his window, and detained him last Wednesday. Escobar was on his way to his job as a roofer for a construction company in Boston. 

Malden City Councilor Stephen Windslow said that he had been told by witnesses that the agents had sideswiped Escobar's truck on a residential street and shoved a taser in his face. Video from the detainment shows ICE agents involved in a struggle as they pulled him through the window. His attorney, Maggie Morgan, said that Escobar's arm was cut as he was pulled through. 

In a statement, ICE officials said that Escobar was resisting arrest and they took "appropriate action" to use the "minimum amount of force necessary." 

He is being held in the ICE detention center in Plymouth. Esocbar has no criminal record and had a pending petition to become a permanent U.S. resident, according to Morgan. Gonzalez is also an attorney and sponsored her husband's petition. Escobar has been a resident of Malden for over 10 years. 

Community rallies for Escobar

Elected officials at Monday's rally called for the immediate release of Escobar. Calls of "Bring Hernan home now" rang out at Malden City Hall Plaza in support of Escobar.

"He is not a threat to our communities. He is a part of our communities," Governor Maura Healey said in a statement. "Because of ICE actions, people are afraid to send their kids to school, to go to work, to seek healthcare, to report crimes. None of this makes us safer."

"Our community is strongest when families are together. When neighbors feel safe and when the path to legal status is respected," Malden Mayor Gary Christenson said. "We cannot ignore the human impact of their actions. Hernan's detention is not just a legal issue. It's a family's heartbreak."

"The message is that no one is safe from being violently seized, being detained in inhumane conditions away from their families and communities," attorney Morgan said.