‘Minor Traffic Accident' Led Federal Agents To Blast Into American Family's Home: Reports

Yahoo

a day ago

A group of armed federal immigration agents in Huntington Park, California, blasted their way into a family's home Friday morning while searching for a man they accused of charging into a law enforcement vehicle, according to several media outlets.
'I just heard the loudest blast of my life,' resident Jenny Ramirez told NBC Los Angeles. 'I told them, 'You didn't have to do this. You scared my son, my baby and myself.''
Ring camera footage obtained by the outlet shows a group of armed Customs and Border Protection agents placing an explosive device near Ramirez's home before a fiery explosion breached the front of the residence. The agents then entered one by one with weapons drawn.
'If they would've knocked on my door I would have opened the door, but they blew up the window and door first,' Ramirez told ABC7. 'There didn't have to be that violence to enter my house.'
Ramirez told NBC Los Angeles she heard the explosion —which blew off her door and shattered the windows — a little after 6 a.m. Friday.
She said she and her two children, ages 1 and 6, were the only people inside the house at the time, which she shares with her boyfriend, Jorge Sierra-Hernandez.
'Where they broke the window, my baby was there, and before I got him out of there was when it exploded,' Ramirez told ABC7. 'My ears went blank, I imagine how they felt. They were shaking.'
Ramirez said authorities did not give her any warning that they wanted to enter the home, adding that they deployed a drone into her house after setting off the explosive device.
The agents werelooking for Sierra-Hernandez, who a CBP spokesperson confirmed to HuffPost was a U.S. citizen. The spokesperson said Sierra-Hernandez had 'rammed his car into a CBP vehicle, causing significant damage and obstructed agents' work during an operation.'
'During this incident, agents were assaulted, and additional rioters threw rocks and other objects at our personnel,' the spokesperson continued. 'Anyone who actively obstructs or assaults law enforcement, including U.S. citizens, will face consequences which include arrest.'
However, Ramirez told NBCLA that her boyfriend had tried to stop his Jeep, but unintentionally hit the back of a CBP truck carrying federal agents. She said federal agents informed them they were free to go after the crash and that her boyfriend planned on turning himself in.
Sierra-Hernandez ultimately turned himself in, and is now free on bail, ABC 7 reported.
'This family did nothing wrong,' Huntington Park Mayor Arturo Flores told the news outlet. 'They were involved in a minor traffic accident and this is the level of violence and the response that we get.'
You Can Actually Help Kneecap Trump's 'Mass Deportation' Arrests. Here's How.
6-Year-Old With Leukemia In Immigration Detention After Family's Arrest At Courthouse: Lawsuit
Shocking Video Shows Father Of Marines Battered By ICE Agents