Bronx man needed stitches after he was violently wrongfully detained by ICE, family says
Video shows a Bronx man being handcuffed in a brutal takedown as he tells U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents they got the wrong guy.
He was later released, but his family says they're still shaken.
Video shows ICE detainment in Bronx
Ivelisse Garcia Santana said on Wednesday evening, ICE agents wrestled her grandson Jeury Concepcion to the ground outside of a bodega in the Bronx.
Video captures what appears to be three ICE agents taking down Concepcion and cuffing him. Witnesses pleaded with agents as they stood by helplessly.
Santana said eventually agents looked at Concepcion's phone, saw his ID, and realized they arrested the wrong person. She said the agents told Concepcion they were sorry and dropped him off at a park, bloodied and far from his home.
Concepcion then called his grandmother, and she rushed him to a local hospital, where she says he received several stitches.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told CBS News New York in a statement:
"DHS is NOT arresting U.S. citizens by mistake. DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence. We know who we are targeting ahead of time. If and when we do encounter individuals subject to arrest, our law enforcement is trained to ask a series of well-determined questions to determine status and removability.
"This individual was NOT arrested by ICE. On May 6, ICE law enforcement was conducting a targeted enforcement operation when they encountered an individual who matched the physical description of the target outside of the target's residence. When law enforcement approached the individual, he became combative and refused to identify himself. A large crowd of anti-ICE agitators descended and swarmed officers. For their safety, they temporarily detained the individual to safely finish asking their questions. Once officers finished their questioning, he was promptly released.
"A crowd of anti-ICE agitators formed. ICE law enforcement, for their safety and the individual's safety, left the scene and moved to a nearby location once officers identified the individual was not the target officers [sic]."
Grandmother demands justice
Santana said her grandson woke up Thursday morning in a panic, and is still suffering from head and body pain. She broke down in tears as she replayed the moment she describes as traumatizing.
"He had never been through something like this," she said in Spanish.
Santana says her grandson was born and raised in the Bronx, and the incident happened one day before Concepcion's 20th birthday.
She is now demanding justice. She says what happened to her grandson was preventable, and she thanks God he lived to see another birthday.
ICE protections in state budget
The arrest comes at Gov. Kathy Hochul vows change is on the horizon.
"This year's budget also takes steps to protect New Yorkers from the aggressive, often cruel ICE enforcements," she said. "We're enacting a law to allow New Yorkers to hold all government officials responsible, including ICE agents, accountable in court when they violate New Yorkers' constitutional rights."
