Overview
- ICE carried out a targeted vehicle stop on Kimball Street Thursday morning and detained Juliana Milena Ojeda-Montoyoa shortly before 9 a.m., while her husband and toddler left the scene.
- DHS says emergency responders “found no legitimate medical episode” and asserts the husband, identified as Carlos Sebastian Zapata Rivera, purported to have a seizure and refused treatment.
- Fitchburg police report ICE requested help twice to manage a hostile crowd and emphasize their role was limited to keeping the peace rather than enforcing immigration law.
- Officials describe Ojeda-Montoyoa, an Ecuadorian national, as previously charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon after an alleged scissors stabbing, and say she is being held at Cumberland County Jail in Maine.
- The video’s rapid spread drew sharp criticism from Democrats and local leaders, with Fitchburg’s mayor seeking advance notice of federal operations and community members planning a vigil.