“She called the damn law on us and now we’re totally screwed!” the men shouted in Spanish during the livestream. “They surrounded us! They surrounded us!”
The arrest was broadcast for about 30 minutes by Bryan Polanco, a coworker who was not detained. He filmed the agents handcuffing the men and leaving their van behind with the doors wide open, filled with thousands of dollars worth of tools.
At the end of the video, Polanco turned the camera on the homeowner. “It is the same woman,” he said. “Tidying up the house, and still with hatred in her heart.”
Polanco later told Univision that the woman had warned them at the start of the project: if they brought back undocumented workers, she would call ICE. She kept her word, but only after the work was nearly done.
One of the detained men has a wife who is five months pregnant and two young children at home. She told a local news outlet that her husband came to the U.S. to build a better life, not to cause trouble.
Maryland law makes it a felony to obtain labor by threatening to report someone’s immigration status. The homeowner could face charges. Her name has not been released.
The incident has been shared widely online. One commenter summed up the reaction: “Karma will find its way to her.”
