Immigration arrest outside Oregon preschool rattles parents
Beaverton, Oregon. – Parents of a nursery school in a suburb of Portland are in shock after the immigration agents arrested a father in front of the school during the morning deposit hours, breaking the window of his car to hold him in front of children, families and employees.
“I feel like a daycare, whose young children are taken care of, should be a safe place,” said Natalie Berning after having tabled her daughter in the Montessori in Beaverton on Friday morning. “Not only is he traumatic for the family, but also for all the other children.”
Mahdi Khanbabazadeh, a chiropractor and citizen of Iran, 38, was initially arrested by immigration and the application of customs, or ice, while he was driving his child to school on Tuesday. After asking if he could first deposit the child, he continued to drive and called his wife to tell him what had happened, according to his wife, who spoke under the guise of anonymity due to confidentiality problems for her and her young child.
His wife rushed to school, took his child from his car and brought him inside. Khanbabazadeh stayed in the vehicle in the parking lot and asked if he could move somewhere and not on the school field for children and families, said his wife. He withdrew from the lot and on the street and started opening the car door to go out when the agents broke the window and arrested him, according to his wife.
Kellie Burns, who has two children assistant to nursery school, said her husband was there and heard the glass breaking.
“More than anything, we want to express how unnecessarily violent and inhuman,” she said. “Everyone felt helpless. Everyone was afraid.”
Ice said he had detained Khanbabazadeh because he had exceeded his visa, which his wife disputes.
“The police tried to arrest Khanbabazadeh during a traffic stop when he asked for permission to deposit his child at daycare,” Ice said in a statement. “The police allowed him to carry out the daycare car park where he stopped cooperating, resisted the arrest and refused to leave his vehicle, which brought the ice officers by breaking one of the windows to finish the arrest.”
Immigration officials have considerably increased arrests across the country since May. Shortly after President Donald Trump took office in January, his administration raised restrictions on the implementation of immigration to schools, health establishments and places of worship, arousing fears of going to places once considered as safe spaces.
After the US military strikes on Iran in June, officials deceived the Iranian immigration arrests, some of which settled in the United States a long time ago.
Khanbabazadeh’s wife said he had always maintained legal status. After arriving on a valid student visa and they then married, she said, they submitted all the documents required to adjust his status and awaited a final decision after their green card interview months ago.
Khanbabazadeh is detained at the ICE detention center in Tacoma, Washington, she said.
Guidepost Global Education, which oversees the Montessori school, called the “deeply overwhelming” incident.
“We understand that this incident raises broader questions about how the actions of the police intend to meet with school environments,” CEO Maris Mendes said in a statement. “It is not lost to us how frightening and confusing this experience was for people involved – especially for young children who may have witnessed it at school with their parents.”
Parents said they wanted to support the family and teachers.
“We know that this happens across the country, of course, but no one is prepared for their nursery school … to face it,” said Burns. “It was really a nightmare.”
