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Daughter challenges ICE arrest of mother, who was accused of gang ties without evidence

By CNN Newsource

Published April 12, 2025 4:00 am

By Polo Sandoval and Linh Tran, CNN

(CNN) — To Karen Cruz Berrios, her mother is a hard-working, devoted single parent. To the Department of Homeland Security, she is “ … an associate of the vicious MS-13 gang.”

However, nearly two weeks after Elsy Noemi Berrios, 52, was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, DHS has yet to disclose any evidence to substantiate its claim against the Salvadoran woman to the public or, her attorneys say, to them.

Noemi Berrios was arrested by federal agents in Westminster, Maryland, on the morning of March 31 as she drove to work with her daughter, according to her family.

Cell phone video, shot and shared by Cruz Berrios, shows authorities demanded her mother step out of the vehicle. She’s heard refusing and asking the officers to show her a detention order.

“I do not need to show you the warrant,” responded one of the officers wearing a tactical vest marked “Federal Agent.”

Seconds later, officers shattered her driver’s side window to unlock the door and removed Noemi Berrios from the car before handcuffing her hands behind her back.

“You guys cannot take her just because you guys just want to,” her daughter, Cruz Berrios, screamed just after the agents shattered the window glass.

“Don’t worry my love, I’m OK,” the mother can be heard telling her daughter in the video.

“She doesn’t have any criminal record, and she does everything right,” Cruz Berrios, 18, told CNN last week. “She is a good mom because she raised me and my other three siblings by herself. She did everything she could for us.”

Noemi Berrios’ attorneys said they have not seen any detention order nor received any explanation from DHS about why their client is in custody. Her attorneys told CNN they only became aware of DHS’ allegations that she was an affiliate of MS-13 through news reports.

Her attorneys requested a bond hearing, scheduled for Monday, to seek her release from detention and compel the government to hand over any evidence they have against their client.

“DHS has not provided us with any evidence to substantiate their allegations that our client is associated with MS-13 and our client denies any association or involvement,” said Raymond Griffith, one of the lawyers representing Noemi Berrios.

“Under previous administrations, she would likely not have been a priority enforcement as an asylum seeker,” said Griffith.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s office is also calling for more transparency from the federal government in this case.

“Our constitution enshrines due process for an important reason – so that people know what they’re accused of and so that everyone gets their day in court,” said Carter Elliott IV, Moore’s senior press secretary.

He added the administration “… urges the federal government to let this family know the basis for the arrest, and investigate the tactics used in this incident to ensure it complies with all relevant laws, policies, and court orders.”

ICE says Noemi Berrios was arrested in January 2017 after illegally crossing into the United States and processed for expedited removal before being released from custody three weeks later under the ICE Alternatives to Detention program. The program allows migrants to remain in their communities “as they move through immigration proceedings or prepare for departure,” according to ICE’s website.

However, her attorneys say those removal proceedings were dismissed in 2023 and she immediately petitioned for asylum. As part of the petition process, Noemi Berrios was granted a work authorization, which was recently renewed, according to her lawyers. She works at a custom clothing manufacturer, her lawyers said.

A CNN search of public records shows Noemi Berrios has no criminal history.

Her daughter told CNN she was shocked to learn DHS officials are alleging her mother is connected to the violent gang.

“It’s not true,” Cruz Berrios said.

DHS has not responded to multiple follow-up inquiries from CNN requesting investigative or court documents supporting this claim.

Concerns are brewing for members of Maryland’s Salvadoran community as this case marks another recent high-profile arrest of a member of their community.

In March, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a father of three, was deported to El Salvador’s notorious high-security CECOT prison in what the Trump administration now calls an “administrative error.” Abrego Garcia is accused of being a member of MS-13, but the administration has yet to show evidence supporting that claim. His family denies he is involved in the gang and his deportation is now being challenged in federal court.

“Whether he is in El Salvador or a detention facility in the U.S., he should be locked up,” said DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin in a statement to CNN.

Though the cases of Abrego Garcia and Noemi Berrios differ, Salvadoran-native and Maryland resident Jorge Benitez Perez says he is worried.

“We know that when Salvadorans were first coming here, that was the number one argument used against us. That we were all MS-13. That we were all part of some gang,” said Benitez Perez, an immigration activist who helped spearhead efforts to make Prince George’s County a Maryland sanctuary jurisdiction in 2019.

“To see these insults and these attacks coming towards our people and seeing our people being sent back to a country that they fled is disappointing and it’s angering,” added Benitez Perez.

According to ICE, Noemi Berrios remains detained at one of the agency’s processing centers in rural Pennsylvania. Her family and attorneys say they are doing everything they can to have her released out of fear that the government will initiate deportation proceedings.

CNN’s Jeff Winter contributed to this report.