SAEDNEWS: A 38-year-old father was arrested by immigration officials outside his child's preschool in Oregon, officials said.
Mahdi Khanbabazadeh, a citizen of Iran, was arrested for overstaying his visa, a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson told CBS News on Friday.
The spokesperson said ICE officials attempted to arrest Khanbabazadeh during a traffic stop when he requested permission to drop his child off at daycare. The agency allowed him to the school's parking lot, where he "resisted arrest and refused to exit his vehicle."
ICE officials broke one of the windows of the vehicle to "complete the arrest," the spokesperson said, adding that Khanbabazadeh's child was unharmed.
"It was just chaos," Randy Kornfield, who was dropping off his grandson at Guidepost Montessori School in South Beaverton, Oregon, at the time of the arrest, told CBS affiliate KOIN. "There were a lot of parents who were upset. And rightly so. It's just not something that needs to happen at a preschool, or at any school, for that matter."
Caroline Medeiros, an immigration lawyer who said she offered her advice and guidance to the school and family, told local media that seven unmarked cars pulled into the school's parking lot to make the arrest. She said that Khanbabazadeh was dragged out of the car while his wife was asking where they were taking him.
Medeiros has a daughter who attends the school and was playing outside when the arrest happened, she told CBS News via email on Friday.
"Thankfully, the kids didn't see anything, but it was definitely a dangerous and traumatic situation, as there were several armed, masked officers in the parking lot within feet of where they were playing," she said via email.
