We’re all living in extremely tense times.

But if you’re a Latino, you can easily multiply that level of anxiety by 1,000.

A recent local case of mistaken identity that could’ve easily turned tragic illustrates the point perfectly. It involves the U.S. Marshals Service, which was seeking a dangerous suspect wanted on child sex offenses, and a peaceful family of immigrants who live in a modest home in the Deaverview area.

Late on the afternoon of Feb. 13, Tito Aguilar-Ramirez; his wife Deisy Lopez; their two girls, Betsabe, 7, and Arlet, 2; and Tito’s nephew, Moisés Ramirez, 17, were all at home. Moisés Ramirez, who just came to America a month ago from Guatemala on political asylum, was outside taking the trash out.

Suddenly, federal marshals pulled into the driveway, exited their vehicles wielding assault rifles and started shouting. Through a translator, Moisés, who speaks no English, told me he considered running but thought better of it and emerged with his hands up.

I hate to think what could’ve happened had he bolted.

Meanwhile, Aguilar-Ramirez, Lopez, and the kids, scared by what they thought might be an immigration raid, fled into the home’s bathroom. Two agents held onto Moisés while others knocked hard on the front door, shouting that they were police before breaking in the door.

Realizing that people were hiding in the bathroom, the marshals started shouting for them to come out, that they were federal agents. But they spoke mostly in English, other than shouting “policia.” Tito and his family, with the exception of Betsabe, speak very little English and say they did not understand what the agents wanted.

A marshal smashed in the bathroom door, which hit Tito in the head as he protected his family.

“Todo negro,” Aguilar-Ramirez said, which translates to, “Everything went black.”

The girls were terrified. Lopez said the marshals entered the home “very angry.”

Lopez said the girls were “shaking and screaming when they knocked the door down,” and they were crying before that. They couldn’t sleep for three nights afterward, she said. 

Aguilar-Ramirez estimates 10 marshals were on scene. At one point, the marshals were on the phone with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Aguilar-Ramirez said, which made the family even more nervous.

They are all here legally, seeking political asylum, Aguilar-Ramirez said, and they do not think they’re targets for deportation under President Trump’s amped-up policies regarding immigration and deportation. Aguilar-Ramirez, who works as a fence builder, came here in 2016, his wife in 2020. 

At the time of the incident, Moisés had been here two weeks. Aguilar-Ramirez explained that Moisés’ father is dead and his mother left him in a garbage pile when he was little.

Aguilar-Ramirez said a relative took the boy in “to give him a better life,” and they decided the best chance for that was in America, with Aguilar-Ramirez and his family. Moisés’ father was Aguilar-Ramirez’s cousin.

He and Aguilar-Ramirez said marshals handcuffed each of them. Lopez, 29, said the sight of her husband in cuffs rattled her to the bone.

“I was thinking when they took him, ‘Oh my god, it’s just going to be me,’” said Lopez, who has epilepsy and occasional seizures. “Once they took him out of handcuffs, I thought, ‘OK, nothing else matters. At least he’s free.’”

With the help of a bilingual relative whom Aguilar-Ramirez called, they were finally able to figure out what the marshals wanted: a man with multiple criminal warrants for child sexual abuse. It’s unclear if the agents thought Moisés was the criminal they sought or Aguilar-Ramirez, although Aguilar-Ramirez says they appeared to be after Moisés.

Aguilar-Ramirez said once agents were able to check their ID cards, they realized they had the wrong person. His understanding, Aguilar-Ramirez said, is that the wanted person the marshals were looking for gave their address out as his own, leading to the mistake.

A week before the incident, he said they noticed an unmarked police car that was parked just down the street for several days in a row. They thought it was immigration. In fact, when Betzabe saw the cars coming on the day of the incident, Aguilar-Ramirez said, the little girl said, “Dad, Immigration is here.”

Aguilar-Ramirez, 31, says, “If they hadn’t approached so aggressively” and better explained who they were looking for, he would have been able to cooperate with them sooner. He also said the marshals presented no papers or arrest warrants, although once the misunderstanding was straightened out they did show him via cell phone a photo of the wanted man they were after.

Aguilar-Ramirez had swelling on his head and pain in his shoulder afterward.

Deisy Lopez said the marshals arrived at their home as if the family were “criminals.”

The family says they got no apology from the marshals, which the agency disputes. 

U.S. Marshals Service offers its explanation

Brian Alfano, deputy commander with the U.S. Marshals Service in Charlotte, explained the events from the perspective of the U.S. Marshals Service.

He said they were looking for Delmar Perez Montejo, who’s wanted on five counts of sex assaults on a minor, including first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, statutory sex offense with a child, statutory rape with a child, first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, and another type of statutory rape with a child. A reward of $2,000 is offered.

When marshals approached the Aguilar-Ramirez home, they saw an individual who fit the wanted man’s description — “height, weight, build, nationality,” Alfano said, adding that the man they thought was their target was Aguilar-Ramirez.

“We start to walk that way, approach him, and he grabs the two children and runs into the house,” Alfano said. “At which point the guys were like, ‘Hey, that looks exactly like our guy who just grabbed two children, and based off of those charges that he’s facing, those children are absolutely in danger at this moment.’”

Aguilar-Ramirez described a different scene when officers arrived. He said he was in the bathroom, his wife was cooking dinner, the girls were in the living room watching television and Moisés was outside taking out the trash. The 7-year-old saw agents approaching and alerted the family. Aguilar-Ramirez left the bathroom, lowered the shades in the home and got the family in the bathroom.

Alfano said the marshals “tried to communicate” with the family, “screaming out ‘police’ and ‘policia.’” On a video Aguilar-Ramirez showed us, a marshal can be heard shouting ‘policia’ and then in English urging the family to come out with their hands up.

The marshals did not have a bilingual agent with them, though.

“They make entry in the house due to the high risk of the children being with this individual,” Alfano said. “They ultimately find him in the bathroom, push the door open, and they make contact.”

Alfano said as soon as the marshals figured out Aguilar-Ramirez was not the target, they explained what was happening.

“I’m well aware of ICE and what they’re doing,” Alfano said. “That’s not why we were there. We’re simply there looking for an individual, and we’re just simply trying to service the community in that aspect.”

Alfano, who was not on scene Feb. 13, said the marshals did have arrest warrants with them that day. He acknowledged that the marshals did not have anyone fluent in Spanish on scene.

“No, we did not,” Alfano said. “So when we did encounter him, we had to get somebody on the phone. And there was that translation barrier, but we were able to get somebody on the phone and have a conversation with them.”

I asked him if the Marshals Service had a shortage of bilingual officers.

“I don’t know about a shortage of bilingual people in the federal government,” Alfano said. “We didn’t have anybody around that day that spoke Spanish.”

I also asked Alfano if, in hindsight, they would do anything differently that day. He did not want to engage in “Monday morning quarterbacking,” he said.

“They got viable information that (the suspect) was in that area,” Alfano said. “They saw a probable match to who he was, and they perceived a threat to children. So they tried the best they could to serve their community, protecting us, and life and bystanders and children, and this is where we are now.”

‘It’s definitely how things are escalating right now’

Rebecca Sharp is the founder and director of La Esperanza, an outreach program of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit in Mars Hill that serves Latino families in Buncombe, Madison, and Yancey counties. The organization focuses on women and children and the health and wellness of the community.

She heard about the incident shortly after it happened. Sharp acknowledges that it was a case of mistaken identity, but she still questions the techniques the U.S. Marshals employed.

“I think that to me, had that been a white household, I don’t know — would they have broken down the door and gone in and had them handcuffed and broken down two doors before they even got his ID?” Sharp said.

She says the Latino community is on edge in general because of increased ICE activity and the heated rhetoric surrounding immigration since President Trump took office Jan. 20. So Sharp understands how Aguilar-Ramirez reacted that day, seeking to hide and safeguard his family.

“So that escalates. People get mad — ‘I’m gonna bust down the door,’” Sharp said. “I think it’s definitely how things are escalating right now, because of all the rhetoric that’s going out.”

The bottom line for Sharp is that the marshals’ behavior that day was “just wrong.”

“They just didn’t do anything right,” Sharp said. “And yeah, they were looking for a fugitive, but it’s just wrong (how they went about it).”

Alfano stressed that officers were pursuing a dangerous fugitive and thought two young girls were in danger. He also rejects Sharp’s notion that a white family would’ve been treated any differently.

“I would just say we’re going to do everything we can to ensure the safety of our communities, especially when it comes to somebody that’s charged with multiple counts of child rape,” Alfano said. “Regardless of their race — that’s irrelevant.”

Alfano also insisted that marshals did apologize to the family that day.

“Everything was explained to them — exactly why we were there, who we thought they were, who we were looking for, all that,” he said. 

Alfano points out that there’s no difference between the U.S. Marshals Service and other law enforcement agencies when it comes to their powers and tactics.

“If you come in contact with a law enforcement officer that gives you a lawful command, just obey,” Alfano said.

While Alfano feels like everyone is on the same page now, Aguilar-Ramirez and his family remain wary. Lopez said the girls missed three days of school after the incident, and her husband says the Latino community remains on edge.

Aguilar-Ramirez said before Trump got elected, they were “much calmer.”

“If this happens with more people, Hispanic people are just going to hide,” he said.

Lopez said every time someone knocks on the door now, her girls think it’s the police.

My take on this is that the marshals made some mistakes here in doing their jobs — probably honest ones — and I hope they learn from that. And they really need to have someone fluent in Spanish on scene for these kinds of scenarios.

It might just save someone’s life.

Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. John Boyle has been covering Asheville and surrounding communities since the 20th century. You can reach him at (828) 337-0941, or via email at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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