New York, who was suspended and detained by immigration and customs agents to perform, says he was treated as a criminal for just existing as Spanish eater in the United States
“[ICE] He said they were looking for criminals, but in fact they are criminals, “said Elzon Lemus, 23 years old from Brentwood, told reporters during a press conference on Thursday.
Lemus, an electrician, was riding in the passenger seat of a car on the way to work when ice agents stopped the vehicle in Westbury, New York. It is reported that ice agents said the lemus “looks like someone we are looking for.”
He asked “Who are you looking for exactly because I’m definitely not me.” Much of his interaction with Ice was shot on a mobile phone video.
After the car was stopped, Lemus says it was surrounded by vehicles for ice and internal security investigations. Then the agents threatened him and asked for his ID.
The 23 -year -old New York Elzon Lem was stopped and detained by immigrations and agents to apply customs on the way to work because “looked like” they were looking for. LEMUS is a US citizen and when he wants to identify information from the agents who hold him, they refused (NBC4)
“This will go in one of the two ways here. I have to see your ID card – if you are not the person I am looking for, you are not the person I am looking for. But we need your ID card,” says the ice agent in the video.
Lemus said he asked for the name and number of the agents badges, but they refused to provide any identification information, claiming that they were not “authorized” to do so.
“I told them that I was not authorized to give my ID,” Lemus said.
An ice agent threatened him again.
“If we do not receive your ID card, we will need to come up with another way to identify you and this may not be well for you,” the agent said.
The lemus is then placed in handcuffs for refusing to provide identification to ice agents. He said he was hesitant to cooperate because he had not committed any crimes and knew that federal agents were not a local police, NBC 4 reports.
An ice agent wanting Elzon Lems, a 23-year-old electrician in New York and a US citizen, to show his identity card because “looks like someone” which federal agents are looking for. (Elzon Lemus)
“I didn’t want to get my ID, because when I saw how they were dressed, I knew they were not police officers. I did not commit a crime and do not drive,” he said.
It is alleged that the ice agents have left a lemus in cuffs for 20-25 minutes and confiscate his phone to prevent him from shooting them. In the end, they found his identification in his pockets.
“It was heartbreaking … it had the feeling that my rights were just through the window,” Lemus said.
Lemus’s lawyer calls ICE’s supposed harassment for a violation of his client’s federal civil rights.
“This is not America. It should not live as Americans. This is not the way this young man, as a young Spaniard who will work at 7:30 in the morning, should be welcomed at the beginning of his day,” said lawyer Fred Bruington.
The lawyer said that ice could not simply “randomly, of an idea, to stop people”, calling it “contrary to the Constitution.”
New York State Assembly, Philip Ramo, a former police detective, also weighed and requested an investigation. He labeling the incident as racial profiling.
Lemus and his lawyer are calling for a full investigation by the US Department of Justice. They have not filed a case at this time.
The incident left Lemus to fear future potential meetings with federal agents based on anything more than his ethnicity.
“I felt like I lost all the rights when they pulled me down,” he said. “I felt I had nothing anymore, I felt that they deprived my rights, I was honestly shocked.”
Independent contacted ICE for comment.