ICE Agents Filmed Barging Into Home With Guns and Riot Gear to Arrest Father

Armed immigration agents on Tuesday forced their way into a San Diego home after prying the door open with a crowbar.

Video of the chaotic scene, which took place around 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, shows an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent entering the home with a riot shield as multiple officers follow him inside.

The target of the raid was Alberto Alonso Hernandez, 31. ICE agents had tried to arrest him near his home, but Hernandez ran inside and hid with his family. Around 10 a.m., ICE officers forced their way into the home to take him, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The video, which was shot by Hernandez’s 11-year-old daughter Jocelyn, shows her demanding that the ICE officers provide a warrant. “We have to see the warrant,” she is heard saying.

“Ma’am, you’re watching too much movies,” the ICE officer replies. “We’ll show you the warrant when we’re done.” The officers then wrench the door open and storm inside.

Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure require officers to show a warrant to defendants “upon arrest.” Federal law also states that the warrant must be signed by a judge. ICE spokesperson Lauren Mack told Splinter the warrant was “a judicial warrant, signed by a federal judge at district court in San Diego.”

ICE officers also shut down electricity to the house off to “try to get [Hernandez] to come out,” according to the Union-Tribune. Video from community members shows them demanding the ICE agents turn the electricity back on as they leave the house.

Mack said that “protesters were confrontational and shouting loudly in front of the residence.” She added that officer safety was “a top priority.”

Mack also said Hernandez was targeted because of his suspected immigration and criminal history. “ICE records reveal he was convicted for battery of a spouse in 2007, and has illegally re-entered the United States 16 times since 2003,” Mack told Splinter.

Hernandez’s family disputes those claims. His wife told the Union-Tribune she did not remember her husband ever being convicted of domestic violence. She also said her husband was deported twice, not 16 times.

The Union-Tribune also “searched several databases and could not locate court records for the reported 2007 conviction.” ICE did not respond to Splinter’s request for clarification.