SALISBURY, Md. -- On Wednesday morning, ICE took 24-year-old Vanessa Parrazal into custody. The arrest itself and the way it was conducted are now drawing backlash.
A video taken by Elizabeth Watkins, a close friend of Parrazal's, captured most of the encounter. It shows ICE agents surrounding the 24-year-old mother's car, and you can see one officer bang something against the driver's side window. You can also hear one of the officers command Parrazal to "open the door now."
"I didn't think I would ever see anything like this," said Bibi Barnes, a neighbor of Parrazal's who saw Wednesday morning's events firsthand. "I think in this neighborhood, it was definitely shocking."
According to Watkins, she and Parrazal were on the way back from Pinehurst Elementary School. They had just dropped their kids off at school. What happened next, said Watkins, was traumatizing.
She said she watched as ICE officers shouted at Parrazal, demanding that she get out of her car. When her friend did not get out of her car, Watkins said officers smashed the driver's side window, reached in and unlocked the door, opened it, then pulled Parrazal out.
"I don't know how anyone involved in that raid could wake up and look at themselves in the mirror and not be ashamed," said Trish Adams, another one of Parrazal's neighbors.
Local law enforcement officials are also chiming in on the optics of all this.
"I cringed when I heard about the particulars of the case," said Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis.
Now, Lewis' office was not involved here. He said the state of Maryland prohibits his office, and any other local agency, for that matter, from assisting ICE.
Still, Lewis, knowing this happened in his county, said he wanted more information.
"I immediately inquired with my command staff as to what happened, and I found out that this particular individual was on the radar of ICE," said Lewis. "I was also told that this individual does have a criminal record."
WBOC was able to confirm that in 2020, Parrazal was charged with felony assault. That charge was later reduced to a misdemeanor, and Parrazal pleaded guilty.
Still, neighbors don't believe Parrazal's past justifies, in any way, shape or form, the way she was treated.
"It was pretty horrible," said Barnes. "She was screaming."
As for the legality of what happened, Lewis said the ICE officers operated within their rights.
"There are people out there encouraging others every day to resist, to run, lock your doors, don't open your doors, you don't have to do this, you don't have to do that," said Lewis. "Well again, as I said a while ago, they[ICE] are legal and lawful in doing what they're doing."
WBOC reached out to ICE's Baltimore field office for comment on Thursday. We have not yet heard back.
Parrazal's friends tell us she's been working her way through the legal system to become a U.S. citizen for more than a year now.
