ICE agent presses his boot on the neck of an undocumented immigrant at Tennessee slaughterhouse
Surveillance video footage revealed during at a federal court hearing shows the brutal moment an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent drove his foot into the neck on undocumented migrant from Honduras during a 2018 raid at a slaughterhouse in Tennessee.
The footage is part of a lawsuit brought forward by 100 Latino workers who were arrested in what at the time was the biggest workplace raid in a decade.
The video – which was first aired by NBC News- shows the Honduran man, who is not named in the lawsuit, being chased by the ICE agents into a locker room at the Southeastern Provision slaughterhouse on April 5, 2018.
The three men disappeared briefly from the view of the security camera before the ICE agents tackled the migrant and pinned him down.
An agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) chases a Honduran migrant in a locker room at the Southeastern Provision slaughterhouse in Tennessee during a raid on April 4, 2018. The incident unraveled when one of the agents, identified as John Witsell pressed his boot on the neck of the migrant man after they pinned him to the ground and handcuffed him
Still image of a video released in a Tennessee federal court last Friday shows John Witsell, an agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) placing his right boot over the neck of an Honduran migrant during a raid at a slaughterhouse on April 4, 2018, in Tennessee. At least 100 Latino workers were arrested in the incident. The group filed a class action lawsuit against the federal agents
The migrant did not appear to be resisting arrest and one of the ICE agents, identified as John Witsell, lied on top of him and then repositions himself kneeling near his head before they were able to handcuff him.
Witsell subsequently stood up and pressed his boot on the man’s neck for 24 seconds and then stepped off.
Witsell also assaulted another migrant worker, hitting him in the head without being provoked, according to a court record obtained by the Tennessee Lookout.
An ICE spokesperson declined to speak on the lawsuit, but said that “it is important to note that ICE does not tolerate misconduct and is undergoing an in-depth review of its use of force policies, standards, and training to ensure that its policies and practices are consistent with President Biden’s historic Executive Order to advance effective, accountable policing and to strengthen public safety.”
ICE agent John Witsell and another officer with the agency place a Honduran migrant under arrest while raiding a Tennessee slaughterhouse in 2018
The Southeastern Provision slaughterhouse was the site of a massive raid on April 5, 2018 that was led by IRS and HSI agents that resulted in the arrest of 100 Latino workers
U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher Steger supported the release of the video of a 2018 raid at a Tennessee that shows an ICE agent stepping on the neck of a Honduran migrant for 24 seconds
The video was released despite an argument by attorneys for Witsell and other agents involved in the incident who indicated that the footage could expose the defendants to harm.
‘Filing the video and (workers’ attorneys’) inflammatory remarks in the public record has the potential to prejudice potential jurors, provoke retaliation and place the agents … at personal risk,’ the motion said.
However, U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher Steger denied the motion and said that opined the ‘public should be allowed to view the video and reach their own conclusions as to what it depicts. The arrest video … is information in which the public has a strong interest and which should be available to the public.’
The National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is representing the 100 workers along with their co-counsel, expects the case to go into the ‘summary judgement phase this fall.’
The class action lawsuit accused the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents of plotting to ‘violate workers’ equal protection rights, excessive force, and false arrest.’
‘In the run-up to the (raid), case agents frequently discussed arresting Hispanic workers and conflated Hispanic ethnicity with illegal status,’ the court said.
Furthermore, ‘the initial plan for the Raid indicated that ‘Hispanics’ will be processed through HSI/ERO procedures’ and that the HSI agents ‘(anticipated) working late into the evening processing the Hispanics the day of the warrant.’
Some of the workers were arrested despite claiming that they had documents that allowed them to legally reside in the United States.
‘This raid was conducted in an unnecessarily violent, humiliating and demeaning manner toward Latino workers,’ said Michelle Lapointe, the senior staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center. ‘Plaintiffs seek justice on behalf of all Latino workers detained during the raid. We are pleased the court will allow the case to proceed as a class action, and look forward to proving our claims in court.’
DailyMail.com reached out to ICE for comment.
