ICE accused of Miami arrest abuses

MIAMI, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. immigration officials used excessive force to arrest 77 undocumented migrants while busting a separate forced-prostitution ring in Miami, advocates say.

Florida pro-immigration advocates of the 42 Mexicans and 35 Guatemalans taken into custody say they were manhandled and had nothing to do with a nearby raid in which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were freeing nine women forced into sexual slavery, The Miami Herald reported Wednesday.

Jonathan Fried, executive director of WeCount!, told reporters a Guatemalan woman saw agents beat her husband and throw him on the floor in front of their 4-year-old daughter.

Nicole Navas, an ICE spokeswoman, denied the allegations but said they had been forwarded to the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility for an independent review. She also told the Herald agents conducting the anti-prostitution raids came across undocumented immigrants and, under the law, were obligated to arrest them.

"This is a mandate we take seriously and cannot and will not turn a blind eye to illegal activity," Navas told the newspaper.