A Long Island postal worker helped an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detainee temporarily escape custody outside and tore into agents in two languages, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday.
Tamara Mayorga-Wong, 57, allegedly opened the door of an official vehicle in front of the Westhampton Post Office and told a handcuffed detainee in the backseat to run for it before trying to drive away in her own car, court documents said.
Cops caught up with the unidentified detainee and arrested Mayorga-Wong after she fled through the building, got into her car in a back parking lot, locked herself and tried to drive away, the records said.
Agents then repeatedly told her to get out of the vehicle before she was forcibly removed, court records claimed.
“Why are you doing this to your people?” she yelled repeatedly to agents in Spanish and English after she was taken into custody, kicking at officers and “flailing her arms,” according to the documents.
She then asked whether the agents were from Mexico and whether they had children, according to the complaint against her.
“What are you going to tell your children about what you do?” she railed, the documents said.
Mayorga-Wong had allegedly seen agents in “HSI Police” jackets grab a man outside the post office and demanded to see a warrant saying “you can’t do this,” according to court documents.
Agents allegedly told her she could see the warrant at the local office and was provided an address before she helped the detainee temporarily escape, the court documents said.
Mayorga-Wong is now facing charges of federal obstruction, which can carry up to 20 years in federal prison depending on the statute prosecutors apply.
It is unclear if Mayorga-Wong knew the detainee. Details of the detainee’s arrest or where he was being held weren’t immediately known.
At her arraignment in Suffolk County federal court on Thursday, Mayorga-Wong appeared shackled at the ankles, scanning the gallery for her family as she cried quietly before the judge took the bench.
She was released the same day from Suffolk jail after posting a $50,000 bond.
Attorneys for both parties declined to comment outside of court.
