A confrontation between a woman and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Maryland was captured on video. The video showed the moment that ICE agents smashed a car window and took 51-year-old Elsy Noemi Berrios into custody in Westminster.
ICE arrest caught on camera
In the video, Berrios can be heard speaking in Spanish to the agents as they stand just outside of her car. She asks for them to explain why she is being arrested and to provide a warrant. One of the agents responded in Spanish that they didn't need to show an order. After some inaudible back and forth, Berrios can be heard saying, "Pues, no me voy a viajar." She tells the officers that she won't get out of the car. At that point, the agents break her car window and unlock the car before taking her into custody. The video was taken by Berrios' daughter, Karen Cruz Berrios.
Allegations against Elsy Noemi Berrios
According to ICE officials, Berrios "is an illegal alien, Salvadoran national and known affiliate of the violent transnational street gang, MS-13." She was arrested on March 31 by Baltimore ICE agents and remains in custody at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania, according to ICE. ICE said Berrios was arrested in January 2017 by U.S. Border Patrol after she entered the U.S. illegally. She was then taken to a Texas Border Patrol station and ordered to appear in court. In February 2017, Berrios was released from custody under the
ICE Alternatives to Detention Program . The program allows migrants to continue living in the U.S. as they move forward with immigration court proceedings.
Elsy Noemi Berrios' daughter speaks out
Berrios' 18-year-old daughter, Karen Cruz Berrios, told our partners at
The Baltimore Banner that she had recently started working at the same place as her mom, so the two rode to work together. The Banner reported that Cruz Berrios believed the ICE agents had been after her mother as they previously showed up at their home in Westminster twice, but were denied entry both times. Cruz Berrios told the Baltimore Banner that her mother is seeking asylum. "I was nervous. There were a lot of emotions going through my head. I did not expect anything to happen like that," Cruz Berrios said during an interview. "I didn't know they could do something like that — especially when you hadn't done anything," she said.
Elsy Noemi Berrios' alleged gang affiliation
Both ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) allege that Berrios is affiliated with MS-13, a criminal organization that includes immigrants from El Salvador. Factions of the gang operate in states across the U.S. "This individual [Elsy] has been identified as an associate of the vicious MS-13 gang," DHS told WJZ. "Americans can rest assured that she is off our streets and locked up. I hope the media will stop doing the bidding of these gangs that murder, maim, rape, and terrorize Americans, while the media ignores the innocent victims." Berrios' daughter and her attorney both deny that she has any gang ties. "No, it's false. My mother, she works really hard since she was really little, and she never had anything to do with gangs or anything like that," Cruz Berrios said during an interview with CNN. According to Berrios' attorney, she has a bond hearing scheduled for April 14 in immigration court.
