Shocking video captured the moment immigration officers detained an Oregon father as he was dropping his young child off at daycare – and he pleaded for them to let the child out before taking him into custody for deportation.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stopped Mahdi Khanbabazadeh on July 15 while he was driving his child to Guidepost Montessori school in Beaverton, a suburb of Portland.
The alarming footage, obtained by Oregon Public Broadcasting, shows the 38-year-old chiropractor asking ICE agents to âwait for three minutesâ because âthere is a baby in the car.â After the child was removed from the car, ICE officers can be seen cracking open the driverâs side window.
In the final clip, taken by a witness, the onlooker can be heard exclaiming: âThis is not OK, and no one here will identify themselves to me,â as masked agents handcuff Khanbabazadeh and take him away.
Khanbabazadeh, a citizen of Iran, entered the U.S. on a student visa, which ICE claims he overstayed. Meanwhile, his family says he is married to a citizen and has already applied and interviewed for a green card.
The clips, three taken on a dashcam and one by a witness, were provided to Oregon Public Broadcasting by Khanbabazadehâs family and authenticated by the outlet.
Khanbabazadehâs arrest marks the first by ICE outside an Oregon school, as until earlier this year, federal policy prohibited immigration officials from making arrests near certain locations, including schools, houses of worship and hospitals.
The incident began around 8:17 a.m. as Khanbabazadeh was in the car with his child in the backseat and pulled over by cops, according to the videoâs timestamp.
âDaddy, police!â the child exclaims from the back as officers tell Khanbabazadeh to roll his window down further.
âYeah, thatâs police,â Khanbabazadeh replies while grabbing his identification for the agents and telling them he is headed to his childâs day care. The cops let him continue to the school, where they again approached the car.
A second clip, recorded at 8:32 a.m. in the daycareâs parking lot, shows the father pleading with officers to hold off on their arrest as he waits for someone to pick up his child. Khanbabazadeh tells the youngster that mom is on the way.
âThere is a baby in the car,â he says. âIs it hard to wait for three minutes?â
Another dashcam clip captured ICE officers smashing the driverâs side window of the car after Khanbabazadehâs child had gotten out. The dad tells agents he is getting out, and one officer replies: âWe told you three times. Unbuckle your seat belt and step out of the car.â
The final clip, taken by a witness, shows Khanbabazadeh standing next to a black SUV being handcuffed and led away by ICE officers, some of whom are wearing masks.
Khanbabazadeh is currently being held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, though his family is pressing for his release from the facility.
ICE did not immediately return a request for comment from The Independent.
In a press release the day after the arrest, ICE stated it initially attempted to arrest Khanbabazadeh during a traffic stop, but decided to allow him to drop his son off at preschool first.
âOfficers allowed him to proceed to the daycare parking lot where he stopped cooperating, resisted arrest and refused to exit his vehicle, resulting in ICE officers making entry by breaking one of the windows to complete the arrest,â a spokesperson for ICE said.
The horrifying incident left the local community rattled, especially parents at Guidepost Montessori School who witnessed the arrest.
Randy Kornfield was dropping his grandchild off at school at the time of the arrest and saw agents get into a tense exchange with a teacher who had asked them to identify themselves. He described the arrest as âheartless,â to Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Other parents also expressed their concerns after witnessing the upsetting arrest of a fellow parent.
âI feel like a day care, which is where young children are taken care of, should be a safe place,â Natalie Berning said after dropping off her daughter at the Montessori in Beaverton Friday morning. âNot only is it traumatizing for the family, itâs traumatizing for all the other children as well.â
Kellie Burns, who has two children attending the preschool, said her husband was there and heard the glass shatter.
âMore than anything, we want to express how unnecessarily violent and inhumane this was,â she said. âEveryone felt helpless. Everyone was scared.â
Guidepost Global Education, which oversees the Montessori school, called the incident âdeeply upsetting.â
âWe understand that this incident raises broader questions about how law enforcement actions intersect with school environments,â CEO Maris Mendes said in a statement. âIt is not lost on us how frightening and confusing this experience may have been for those involved â especially for the young children who may have witnessed it while arriving at school with their parents.â
