A Guatemalan man living in New Bedford, whose car window was smashed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents a month ago and sent to ICE detention, is now speaking about the ordeal.Juan Francisco Mendez, 29, is out on bond and required to wear an ankle monitor.On Thursday, a judge ordered him to be released from an ICE detention center in New Hampshire, citing the Department of Homeland Security did not file any charges against him.At a Spanish-language press conference on Friday, he said his detainment was traumatic.”I am not a criminal, they unjustly detained me, without any charge,” Mendez said. “I just want to give my family safety and stability, just like many other immigrants.”Mendez’s attorney, Ondine Galvez Sniffin said he has no criminal record and has a a pending immigration case to obtain asylum, which has not yet been approved.Additionally, she said that Mendez’s wife has been approved for asylum.”This is completely off the charts,” Galvez Sniffin said. “As her husband, he derives the same status that she has, so he is also protected from being removed back to the country.”Attorneys for Mendez filed a habeas petition last month to keep him close by and ensure he is not held somewhere across the country, a common strategy by federal authorities.A judge ordered federal officials to provide 72 hours’ notice before moving him and said he is entitled to a bond hearing.”The government agreed he has no prior criminal history, which, given the earlier reporting, seems to suggest they arrested someone different than they thought,” attorney Ryan Sullivan said.Galvez Sniffin said Mendez and his wife were waiting for her to arrive, as she is their immigration lawyer, when the ICE agents approached their car.His wife said the ICE agents were looking for a man named Antonio.Despite telling the ICE agents that the man they were looking for was not him and that he had no criminal record, Mendez’s wife said the ICE agents then ordered him to exit the car and when he refused, they smashed the car window to take him out and into custody, a moment she captured on video.ICE said Mendez is in the U.S. illegally, saying in a statement, “during the course of his arrest, he refused to comply with officers’ instructions and resisted apprehension.”Video: Wife says ICE took wrong man into custodyNew Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell said they were given a last-minute and misleading heads-up about the ICE operation and are seeking more communication from federal authorities.”Most reasonable people can agree that people who are convicted criminals should be pulled from the street if they have no immigration status. They should be deported,” Mitchell said. “It’s quite another thing for this to be an exercise in rounding people up indiscriminately. I don’t think that should be happening.”Mendez’s wife and 9-year-old son live in New Bedford.One of his lawyers spoke to him over the phone last month and said he is doing OK and is concerned about his son. Mendez asked his lawyer to tell his son, “I’ll be home soon.”

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