A woman in southern California repeatedly told Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents that her seven children were present and demanded to see their warrant as they forced their way—guns drawn and using heavy shields—into the family's home.
ICE has to show a warrant to enter someone's home. The young woman heard on the video asks for the warrant. ICE agents mock her "you've seen too many movies," and then forcefully enter the home with guns out. A child is heard crying in the background. ICE IS OUT OF CONTROL. https://t.co/9fxCfgbyDT
— Julissa Arce (@julissaarce) May 9, 2018
The agents were attempting to arrest Brianna Alonso's husband, Alberto Alonso-Hernandez, using a crowbar to pry open the home's back door. The agents had their guns drawn and began screaming at the family after entering the house.
When Alonso asked to see their warrant, one of the ICE agents said, "Ma'am, you're watching too much movies. We'll show you the warrant when we're done."
The couple's 11-year-old daughter also demanded that the agents present their warrant, and filmed the incident with a cell phone.
Watch:
"I don't want my kids to see the guns," Alonso told ABC 10 News in San Diego. "I see already from the window...they're coming with guns. I don't want my kids to see nothing like that."
Alonso-Hernandez is an undocumented immigrant who had returned to the U.S. to rejoin his family after being deported, Alonso told reporters. ICE claims he has re-entered the country 16 times, but the San Diego News Tribune reports that the agency's request for an arrest warrant for him cited only two deportations.
"He came here to the United States when he was 13 years old," she said.
The incident follows a similar case in New York, when a farmer found at least seven armed ICE agents pinning one of his employees, Marcial de Leon Aguilar, up against a wall and handcuffing him while his children were present. The farmer demanded to see paperwork regarding the arrest, but the agents refused.
"ICE needs a warrant. If they go on someone's property without one, they are violating the law," immigration law expert and Cornell law professor Stephen Yale-Loehr told Syracuse.com after Aguilar's arrest.
The ACLU of Southern California advises the public to ask to see a warrant should immigration authorities come to their home.
"You are not legally required to let them in unless they have a warrant," reads the group's guide. "A warrant of removal/deportation (ICE warrant) does not allow officers to enter a home without consent."
