Highlights
- Marisol Lopez says ICE agents disguised as electricians cut power to her home near 83rd Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road before detaining her partner Edgar Martinez, 33.
- ICE says Martinez has no lawful status and two prior domestic violence misdemeanors; Lopez says he was applying for a T visa as a trafficking victim.
- A former federal prosecutor questioned whether ICE has the training for undercover work and said cutting power to a home raises legal concerns.
- Martinez is held at a Florence detention facility and is due in immigration court Tuesday, according to the azfamily.com report.
Federal immigration agents cut power to a west Phoenix home and posed as utility workers before detaining 33-year-old Edgar Martinez outside his front door last week, his partner Marisol Lopez told Arizona's Family, an account ICE disputes in part.
Lopez said someone knocked on the door of the couple's home near 83rd Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road after the power went out. The man at the door claimed to be a utility worker and asked the family to come outside to look at the breaker box. Once outside, Lopez said she immediately suspected something was wrong. Video of the incident shows at least one agent in a bright orange vest pinning a man to the ground outside the front door. Lopez said agents never showed a warrant and never identified themselves as federal officers.
The incident has been reported by La Prensa Latina and Mundo Now, among others, and represents the second time in a week that allegations have surfaced of ICE agents going undercover to detain undocumented immigrants.
An ICE spokesperson said Martinez has no lawful status and pointed to two prior misdemeanors for domestic violence. Lopez said Martinez was in the process of applying for a T visa, a status set aside for trafficking victims.
Michael Gennaco, a former federal prosecutor, told Arizona's Family that undercover assignments are typically reserved for more serious cases. Gennaco also said he questions whether ICE personnel have the training for undercover work, and said cutting power to a home raises concerns about whether responding parties would know who they were dealing with.
Chris Clem, a retired chief patrol agent of the U.S. Border Patrol in Yuma, said the tactics are permissible under certain conditions, provided agents do not cross into entrapment or commit independent crimes.
Martinez is being held at a Florence detention facility, Lopez said, because detention centers are at maximum capacity. His next immigration court date is Tuesday.
Sources
Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.
- AZ Family (3TV/CBS5) retrieved 15/09/2026 01:53
Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 15/09/2026 01:53. Every claim traces to a source.
