‘My Daughter Is Traumatized.’ N.J. Family Shaken After Mom’s ICE Arrest in Front of Children

Federal agents detained Michele Mendoza and her husband on April 15 in Asbury Park while the couple’s toddler and six-month-old were present, with video footage capturing the two young children crying in the back seat of a car as their mother was taken into custody. Mendoza, who says she is a U.S. citizen, was released after about eight hours at ICE’s Delaney Hall detention center in Newark with “noticeable bruising from being handled by ICE agents,” according to state lawmakers. Her husband remains in ICE custody; some agents covered their faces in apparent violation of a newly signed New Jersey law banning the practice. Lawmakers have demanded an investigation.