ICE violence continues across America as the agents recently detained Juan Martin Espindola Ramirez, a man in Tennessee with a valid work visa and green card. Juan claimed that despite showing all the relevant documents to the agents and complying with them, they took him out of his car and also smashed his car window, even though his newborn child was inside the vehicle.
His partner, Juana Bautista, also shed some light on what happened as she described how they were stopped by ICE agents on Nolensville Pike in South Nashville, Tennessee. Bautista then said that Juan had promptly presented all the documents that he believed would save him from any trouble, but the officers downright refused to acknowledge them.
As Bautista said, “The officer was like, ‘Nah that’s not going to cut it,’ so he got his work permit out of his wallet and I heard the officer say, ‘that ain’t s–t.’”
The video footage of the incident, taken by bystanders, shows three or four agents breaking the window of Juan’s vehicle before they gave him a chase, leading to the man running away on foot.
On February 17, ICE arrested Juan Espindola-Ramirez, a criminal illegal alien from Mexico. During a vehicle stop, Espindola-Ramirez refused to exit his vehicle when officers requested him to do so. ICE officers removed him from his vehicle. During the stop, he continued to resist… https://t.co/DKQetz6IJc
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) February 21, 2026
Juan has now been detained in Putnam County. Explaining why he ran away, he said, “Because they smashed the windows of my work vehicle and started hitting me”, which naturally made him scared. As News Channel 5 reported, Juan came to America 10 years ago and eventually he was permitted a Green Card, a work permit and social security card.
Talking about his plight in the hands of the ICE agents, Juan said, “Everyone says ‘you have to do it the legal way,’ we are doing it the legal way. But it doesn’t matter, they don’t care. They don’t respect it.”
The Department of Homeland Security, however, has come forth with a different story as they claim that Juan has criminal history even though he claimed that he never committed a crime in his life.
Taking to X, the official handle of DHS posted, “Espindola-Ramirez did NOT present any form of a driver license during the encounter. He has two previous arrests in 2018 and 2019 by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department for driving without a license. He will receive full due process and remain in ICE custody pending immigration proceedings.”
The post further added, “He was granted work authorization by the Biden administration. To be clear work authorization does not confer any legal status in this country.” DHS also claimed that Juan resisted cooperation with the agents but that does not match his claims.
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Moreover, there has been documented evidence that the people DHS cites as the worst of the worst for justifying their detention often only have traffic violations and driver’s licence related cases against them. Interestingly, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem herself has a disastrous driving record with cases against her, but she has not faced any consequence for the crimes that are putting people in detention by her agents.
Juana also mentioned that the agents made fun of Juan for being Guatemalan even though he is actually from Mexico. She said, “They shouldn’t have to do that. It doesn’t matter if they do understand English or not. No one should be treating them like they’re nothing. He’s a family man, he works hard, he’s always dedicated his life to us.”
