Maria del Carmen Venegas was en route with her husband to the hospital where she would give birth. But when they stopped at a gas…
Maria del Carmen Venegas was en route with her husband to the hospital where she would give birth. But when they stopped at a gas station, ICE agents arrested her husband and took him away. YouTube/CBS Los Angeles
A California mother said she was forced to drive herself to a Cesarean-section appointment and deliver her baby alone on Wednesday, after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested her husband while the couple was en route to the hospital.
ICE officials said late Saturday, after news of the arrest gained traction and provoked outrage, that the man is wanted in Mexico for homicide charges.
Maria del Carmen Venegas told CBS2 News that she and her husband, Joel Arrona-Lara, stopped at a San Bernardino gas station just before their C-section appointment.
Immediately, multiple SUVs converged on them and ICE officers emerged, demanding to see the couple’s identification.
Venegas said she complied, but Arrona-Lara said he didn’t have his and would need to return home to get it. Surveillance footage obtained by local media outlets shows what happened next.
The officers handcuffed Arrona-Lara and took him away, leaving Venegas alone and in tears at the gas station.
“My husband needs to be here,” Venegas told CBS2 News in Spanish. “He had to wait for his son for so long, and someone just took him away.”
ICE said Arrona-Lara is a Mexican citizen living in the US illegally. They said they have placed him in deportation proceedings.
“ICE continues to focus its enforcement resources on individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security.” the agency said. “All of those in violation of the immigration laws may be subject to immigration arrest, detention, and if found removable by final order, removal from the United States.”
The family’s legal representative, Emilio Amaya, told NBC News that the arrest should have been handled more sensitively by ICE.
“They left her at the gas station to fend for herself,” he said.
Follow INSIDER on Facebook .
