EXCLUSIVE: DHS fires back at claims ICE raided 'wrong home' in Oklahoma smuggling investigation
The Independent ran a headline on Wednesday reading: "ICE raids wrong Oklahoma home, seizes life savings and leaves family 'traumatized for life'" writing that an Oklahoma mother and daughters were subject to a "violent and humiliating raid by federal agents last week, despite allegedly not being the intended targets of the operation."
That same day, Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vermont, claimed that ICE agents mistakenly "terrorized" a family of naturalized U.S. citizens – including children – in a raid at a home in northwest Oklahoma City.
Balint claimed that "this was all a colossal mistake" and placed the blame squarely on President Donald Trump, saying "this is Trump's America."
The raid in question occurred on April 24 at a single-family home in northwest Oklahoma City. When ICE agents, assisted by Oklahoma state police, carried out the raid they encountered a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Guatemala as well as three others, the youngest of whom was 17.
A representative for DHS told Fox News Digital that the raid was a "lawful, court-authorized action explicitly targeting a property, which was a hub for human smuggling, not specific individuals as falsely suggested by media reports."
The representative clarified that the warrant "targeted the property itself, not specific individuals, and its execution was not contingent on the presence of any person."
According to the DHS spokesperson, the warrant, which was signed by a federal judge the day before, was based on an 84-page affidavit detailing probable cause that the address served as a "stash house" for human and drug smuggling.
From its months-long surveillance of the property, including observations as recently as April 20, DHS had probable cause to believe that the primary targets of the warrant, Cidia Lima-Lopez and V. Lima-Lopez, illegal aliens from Guatemala, were continuing to use the house for illegal activities.
The spokesperson said that Homeland Security Investigations agents further confirmed via utility records that a member of the Lima Lopez transnational criminal organization was still paying utilities at the residence.
DHS said that the warrant authorized the seizure of evidence, including electronic devices and documents, "regardless of who was present."
The representative said that agents "executed the warrant with precision, seizing electronic devices as authorized," calling the raid "a critical strike against a dangerous human smuggling network in furtherance of our mission to protect American communities from the chaos unleashed by the Biden administration's open-border policies."
Though the family living in the home is no longer in federal custody, the spokesperson said that the investigation is still ongoing and "we have not ruled out current occupants' involvement in the smuggling ring."
Fox News Digital reached out for comment from Balint and The Independent but did not immediately hear back.
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