WESTMINSTER, Md. — Eighteen-year-old Karen Cruz Berrios couldn't imagine her day would end like this—watching ICE agents break her mom Elsy's car window to arrest her.
"I felt very upset, and I was shocked, and I felt like a lot of emotions," Karen said, thinking back to that moment.
VIDEO: ICE break woman's car window to arrest her while daughter records
She told WMAR 2 News that day, March 31st, started out like any other with her and her mom driving to work.
But then ICE agents stopped them.
She said an agent walked to her door first.
"I was like, Here, I was trying to give him my ID,' and he's like, No, I want her ID,' and I was like, But I'm asking why are you stopping us, you know? and he's not giving me an answer; he's just telling me to give them our IDs, but he only want my mother's ID after."
She said the agent didn't look at her mother's ID after receiving it, which made her feel uneasy.
So she started recording.
"My mother keeps asking him, 'Sir, where's the warrant?' And he was like, It's in the car, and my mother was like, Can you please bring it out the car so I can see it, and then I'll step out, and he said, No."
Then they broke her window and took her away.
Berrios' attorney, Anna Tijerina, told WMAR 2 News there was one major red flag during that encounter.
"I still have not seen an arrest warrant. Our office has still not seen an arrest warrant," Tijerina said. "She's entitled to see an arrest warrant before she complies with the officer's order of stepping down, and she wasn't resisting the arrest. I am confident she would've stepped out of the car had she seen a warrant."
She said Berrios is seeking asylum in the United States as she fears for her safety in her home country, El Salvador.
Tijerina also told WMAR 2 News her client has an employee authorization document valid for five years.
But a spokesperson with ICE Baltimore sent WMAR 2 News a statement saying, “Elsy Noemi Berrios, 51, is an illegal alien, Salvadoran national, and known affiliate of the violent transnational street gang, MS-13. U.S. Border Patrol in Rio Grande Valley, Texas, arrested Berrios Jan. 26, 2017, after she illegally entered the United States. She was transported to the McAllen Border Patrol Station in McAllen, Texas, and processed under expedited removal. A Department of Justice immigration judge issued Berrios a notice to appear Feb. 10, 2017. Berrios was released from custody Feb. 16, 2017, under the ICE Alternatives to Detention program."
Tijerina strongly denies her client's association with the violent gang.
"DHS has not provided us with any evidence to substantiate any of their allegations that our client is associated with MS-13. And our client Elsa denies any association and any affiliation to the MS-13."
She said she still doesn't know the charges against her client but hopes to learn more at her bond hearing on Monday.
