ICE denies using five-year-old girl as ‘bait’ after father abandons daughter in car during dramatic arrest operation

ICE has blasted allegations that an autistic five-year-old girl was used to lure her father into surrendering outside of the Guatemalan family’s home.

Edwards Hip Mejia, was ‘followed’ by ICE agents who allegedly detained his daughter outside their Leominster home, NBC Boston 10 originally reported.

DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin disputed the accusations of ICE using the girl as ‘bait’ and called it a ‘disgusting smear’ on ‘brave law enforcement’ officers.

‘The facts are the criminal illegal alien target of the operation—with previous arrests for domestic abuse, strangulation, and vandalizing property—abandoned his own child in a car,’ McLaughlin wrote on X.

McLaughlin added the father ‘ignored law enforcement emergency lights to pull over and drove back to his house.

‘He fled from the car, gave officers the double middle finger, and darted inside his house.

‘He abandoned the 5-year-old daughter in the car. Officers helped rescue the child and called local police to report the abandonment.’

ICE has blasted allegations that an autistic five-year-old girl was used to lure her father into surrendering outside of the Guatemalan family’s home

Edwards Hip Mejia, was ‘followed’ by ICE agents who allegedly detained his daughter outside their Leominster home, NBC Boston 10 originally reported

DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin disputed the accusations of ICE using the girl as ‘bait’ and called it a ‘disgusting smear’ on ‘brave law enforcement’ officers

She condemned the claims and believes the supposed misinformation is leading to a ‘1000% increase in assaults against our brave law enforcement.’

‘Two days later on September 18, ICE officers successfully arrested Edwards Hip Mejia,’ she wrote in a statement obtained by the Daily Mail.

‘This criminal illegal alien from Guatemala illegally entered the U.S. in 2000. This coward will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.’

Hip Mejia’s wife, Jeannette, said he was driving to the hospital because the five-year-old was ‘severely ill.’

He realized cars were following him and turned around, but the agents blocked his car, she told the Globe.

Hip Mejia was arrested for two felonies and two misdemeanors back in January 2024, according to court records.

The charges were strangulation, vandalization, assault and battery on a family or household member, and reckless endangerment of a child.

Court records show that Jeannette was also arrested with similar charges but both were ultimately dismissed in April 2024.

Jeannette told the Globe the charges ‘stemmed from a domestic incident’ did not elaborate. She requested to use her middle name for privacy.

The family’s immigration lawyer, Jacob Geller, reviewed the videos and testimony and said the agents were ‘clearly using the 5-year-old’ to bait the parents out of the home.

‘It’s absolutely inhumane,’ he told the Globe.

‘And that they would release a statement saying they would never do that is further dishonesty from ICE.’

Democratic Boston governor Maura Healey was ‘horrified’ for the five-year-old girl, adding ‘my heart breaks for her.’

A video obtained by Telemundo showed the girl in pink pants, sipping from a water bottle while surrounded by immigration agents outside the Leominster home

The mother told Telemundo that she reported the officers for ‘alleged harassment’ followed by the claim ‘they would ‘enter the house if the door was not open within 15 minutes’

She spoke out against ICE’s tactics.

‘The video showing ICE using this 5-year-old girl as a bargaining chip: That’s horrifying.

‘That doesn’t make us safer. That’s not about public safety, and it’s got to stop.”

A video obtained by Telemundo showed the girl in pink pants, sipping from a water bottle while surrounded by immigration agents outside the Leominster home.

The distressed mother pleaded in the video to ‘give her daughter back’ and that ‘she’s special, she has autism.’

Later in the video, another ICE agent asked ‘Is that your daughter? Come here so I can see those IDs.’

The man in the video responded ‘Hey, I can give it through the door.’

‘You can do it right here,’ the federal agent retorted, motioning him to come forward.

The mother told Telemundo that she reported the officers for ‘alleged harassment’ followed by the claim ‘they would ‘enter the house if the door was not open within 15 minutes.’

The Leominster police later arrived at the home to intervene, returning the five-year-old girl to her family.

The girl is in ‘good condition’ and Hip Mejia was detained two days later. He has lived in the US for about 22 years.

‘Officers came out behind my house, arrested him, took him away,’ the mother said, adding ‘we are not criminals.’

He’s currently being held in a Plymouth correctional facility, according to Jeannette.