Immigration officials reportedly arrested a New Haven woman Monday at the courthouse where she was scheduled to appear.
The 24-year-old mother of two was taken into custody at a court hearing for her ongoing criminal case, according to the New Haven Independent. Gladys Samanta is an Ecuadorian immigrant who was scheduled to appear in court for an ongoing criminal case.
Tentes-Pitiur’s husband told the Independent she was arrested on the way to her hearing. He said the original court date was rescheduled because she needed emergency surgery. The woman's family said they don’t know where she is being held.
In an interview with WSHU, Mayor Justin Elicker said he did not have details about Tentes-Pitiur’s cases. He said he was concerned about the way federal officers were going about their arrests in the city.
“I think most people in our country would agree with that, that if someone is violent or dangerous to the community, they should be held accountable no matter who they are, but our indication so far is that's not entirely who ICE is targeting,” Elicker said.
It’s the second time ICE has arrested a mother in New Haven. In June, Nancy Martinez was arrested before taking her 13-year-old daughter and her 8‑year-old son to school. Elicker said the method by which Martinez was arrested was another cause of concern.
“I think that’s the second area that we’re really concerned about. The way ICE is going about these arrests, where it's masked individuals that, in a number of cases that we’ve seen, don't even have identification,” Elicker said.
Elicker worries that these methods give someone else a license to grab people off the street and pose as ICE. He said it puts police officers in danger if they were to come across masked individuals, guns, and without identification.
“That puts our police officers in a horrible situation where they could be witnessing a robbery, they could be witnessing something else,” Elicker said. “ICE not identifying themselves with appropriate uniforms when they’re doing this kind of activity is not only terrifying, but it's potentially dangerous for a lot of people in our community.”
