Javier Serrano Pujols was ambushed by federal ICE agents outside City Hall and the Roderick Ireland Courthouse in Springfield May 7.
Some officers were masked and others were not, said Pujols' girlfriend, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution from ICE. Pujols' girlfriend saw him get ambushed by officers outside City Hall and the Roderick Ireland Courthouse in Springfield last week.
She said the officers pepper sprayed him and struggled to handcuff him.
Pujols attended an evidentiary suppression hearing earlier that day when ICE agents tackled him to the ground outside the Hampden District Courthouse. His attorney, Kedar Ismail, calls ICE's actions "nefarious."
"Just leaving a courthouse, your state of mind is, I just handled everything I was supposed to do. That's my process. You interrupt my process, and then I'm not supposed to try to protect myself when you have me down. It's just ridiculous," Ismail said.
Ismail said Pujols had been working in construction and was in the process of trying to gain legal status. Ismail said he was working with an immigration attorney.
Pujols is currently being held at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility, which is the only immigration detention center in the state.
A court date has not been scheduled for him yet.
