A Platte City native and immigration attorney is attracting national media attention with her allegation that she was assaulted by an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation agent at the ICE office at Kansas City International Airport on Tuesday morning.
In a Facebook post made a few hours after the incident, Andrea Comfort Martinez – a 1999 graduate of Platte County High School – said she was pushed by an agent, causing a fracture in her right foot, as well as a bloody left leg. A photo of her bloodied legs was also posted. Several videos of the incident have since surfaced on social media.
Martinez was at the center to drop off her client, a 3-year-old boy, to be reunited with his pregnant mother before their deportation to Honduras. While escorting the boy to the door, she said ICE officers decided to reunite the family inside, away from protesters and cameras. When she tried to follow them inside, video shows the officer shove her out the door and lock it. Martinez fell, twisting her ankle in her high heels.
Moments later, the agent opened the door and let her inside, where, she says, she was locked in a room without access to first aid for 45 minutes to an hour until her ankle began to swell.
As of press time, Martinez gave a press conference at her offices off Prairie View Road near Platte Woods. ICE has released no public comment.