HollyMatkinNational City, CA – Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents engaged in a three-hour standoff with an illegal alien on Tuesday, after the man barricaded himself in his residence, and used his five children to help thwart agents’ entry into the home (video below).
ICE agents were attempting to arrest 31-year-old Alberto Alonso Hernandez, who they say had “illegally re-entered the United States 16 times since 2003,” and had a prior domestic violence conviction, the agency told WGTV in a statement.
The incident began shortly after 6:30 a.m., when Hernandez fled from a traffic stop near his home, according to the statement.
He ran into his residence, and locked himself inside with his wife and five of his children, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Law enforcement officers surrounded the home, and attempted to coax Hernandez out of the house for the next three hours, KNSD reported.
Using a bullhorn, the agents ordered Hernandez to come outside, but he refused. The officers ultimately turned off electricity to the residence.
According to ICE officials, an “angry crowd of protesters” gathered outside of Hernandez’s home, and began shouting and calling the officers names.
“Still, the officers remained calm,” the agency said in a statement.
Agents obtained a warrant for illegal re-entry into the United States, and began forcing entry into the residence at approximately 10 a.m., The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
“ICE officers try to avoid executing warrants in the presence of children,” ICE officials said in a statement. “We initially attempted to take custody of the subject outside of the home… [but] the subject fled and hid inside his residence and refused to respond to our presence outside of his residence despite multiple calls for him to come out.”
Hernandez hid behind his 11-year-old daughter, Jocelyn, and his wife, Brianna Alonso, who attempted to keep the agents out of the house.
Jocelyn recorded a cell phone video as she yelled at ICE agents through the screen door, and demanded that they show her a warrant.
“They don’t wanna show us the warrant!” Jocelyn and Alonso, 32, said in the video, while officers pried the door open with a crowbar.
“Ma’am, you’re watching too much movies,” an agent responded. “We’ll show you the warrant when we’re done.”
“In my mind, I thought, ‘They’re lying,’ because I don’t see it,” Alonso later told The San Diego Union-Tribune.
“I wanna see the warrant!” Hernandez’s young daughter yelled at one point. “Let’s see it! Let’s see it! No!”
“We have five kids,” Alonso added, just before agents poured into the residence.
“Let me see your hands!” one officer commanded repeatedly. “Drop the phone!”
The cellphone video ended, and Jocelyn later claimed that an agent had grabbed her phone and tried to delete the video, but that she was able to recover it, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Jocelyn also said that an agent grabbed her by the wrist.
“Yeah, they hurt me, and they had no right,” the girl said. “I never let them.”
Hernandez was taken into custody, and his family has now leveled claims that ICE violated civil rights laws during his arrest, according to KGTV.
“I’m still in shock completely,” Alonso told The San Diego Union-Tribune. “It hurts me because my kids saw everything. They don’t have no need to see them with guns and screaming.”
ICE officials said that the warrant execution followed the agency’s protocols, KNSD reported.
“The priority at entry is to secure the area to ensure for officer safety and to identify the subject as quickly as possible,” ICE said in a statement, according to KGTV. “Yesterday’s arrest warrant was executed without incident due to ERO officer’s diligence and coordination. The family/individuals inside the residence were provided timely notification and a copy of the warrant.”
A GoFundMe campaign was created for the family to capitalize on all of the anger towards ICE about the arrest. It has raised $90 in two days.
Watch cell phone footage of ICE agents entering the home in the video below: