A farmer in upstate New York told Syracuse.com that he was out front of his dairy farm Wednesday morning when he heard yelling from inside of his milk house. One of his workers, Marcial de Leon Aguilar, was being arrested by a crew of armed men who were “screaming” at Aguilar.
Then the men told Collins they were officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He asked them for a warrant or some paperwork to explain what they were doing. They had none, he said, so he ordered them to get off his property and leave Aguilar alone.
As this happened, Collins said, Aguilar's children watched. They were waiting nearby for the school bus to come. Collins said the officers put Aguilar in handcuffs and took him across the rural road to their vehicles. At least seven officers had come onto the small farm, Collins said.
Collins says that he couldn’t get an answer from the ICE agents about where they were taking Aguilar nor could he get any official paperwork from these thugs. According to Collins, Aguilar is legally documented to work for Collins; and ICE agents didn’t serve or show him anything resembling a warrant to even step foot onto his property, let alone begin accosting people.
Aguilar's wife, Virginia, and the couple's four children were not in the U.S. until recently. She was caught crossing the border, illegally, with the children. Collins said she has been meeting with ICE officers since she arrived, and is seeking asylum for herself and the children because of the violence in Guatemala. Collins said Virginia met with ICE officers as recently as last week, and has another meeting scheduled for this Friday. At times, Aguilar has accompanied his wife, who is pregnant, to some of the meetings, Collins said.
According to Collins, his attempts to document the situation with his phone was met with an officer chucking Collins’ phone into the road, handcuffing Collins and threatening him, before uncuffing him and taking off with Aguilar.