"A Charlotte woman and her 16-year-old son, who are both involved in a domestic-violence dispute, were arrested in the Mecklenburg courthouse by federal immigration agents after they turned up for a hearing, their attorneys said.
The July 9 arrests by U..S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, or ICE, took place outside a fourth-floor courtroom set aside that day for domestic violence cases. The incident is expected to intensify a debate over where ICE enforcement occurs and who the agency targets.
About 30 supporters of the woman and her son gathered in Marshall Park on Friday to protest their treatment.
...Maria was scheduled to be in court on July 9 as the defendant in a misdemeanor criminal complaint filed by her former fiance. That case had been preceded by a domestic-violence complaint in which the 16-year-old son had accused the former fiance of severely beating him, Little said.
Maria had also taken out a protective order against the man and had moved her family, including a second son who is 2, into a domestic-violence shelter, her attorneys said.
Mecklenburg County District Attorney Spencer Merriweather told the Observer his office is investigating the incident. After taking office last year, Merriweather created a special team of prosecutors to handle crimes against families, children and women.
'What I can tell you is that the protection of domestic violence victims is a priority for my office, and any attempt in the courthouse to detain a domestic-violence victim clearly frustrates our ability to protect them,' Merriweather said.
According to Little and Lisa Diefenderfer, an attorney for the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy, the mother and son were taken into custody shortly before the son was scheduled to testify against his mother’s ex-fiance.
Diesenderfer said Maria had taken out a civil protective order against the man, and had moved herself and her children into a domestic-violence shelter. She said the man’s complaint against her had no merit and was filed in retaliation."
