A California family was left shaken after federal immigration agents used an explosive device to break into their Huntington Park home early Friday morning, reportedly in search of a man involved in what officials described as a minor traffic incident.
Jenny Ramirez, who was inside the house with her two young children at the time, described the terrifying moment to NBC Los Angeles. “I just heard the loudest blast of my life,” she said. “You didn’t have to do this. You scared my son, my baby, and myself.”
Doorbell camera footage obtained by the outlet shows armed Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents placing an explosive device near the entrance of the home. Moments later, an explosion tore through the door and windows as agents entered the residence with weapons drawn.
Ramirez said she was home with her children, ages 1 and 6, when the explosion happened around 6 a.m. “They didn’t knock. They just blew up the door and window,” she told ABC7. “There didn’t have to be that violence.”
She added that her baby had been near the window that was blown out. “My ears went blank — I can only imagine how they felt,” she said of her children, who were visibly shaken.
The target of the raid was Ramirez’s boyfriend, Jorge Sierra-Hernandez. According to CBP, he is a U.S. citizen accused of ramming his Jeep into a CBP vehicle during an earlier operation, damaging the vehicle and interfering with law enforcement agents.
“During this incident, agents were assaulted, and additional rioters threw rocks and other objects at our personnel,” a CBP spokesperson told HuffPost. “Anyone who actively obstructs or assaults law enforcement, including U.S. citizens, will face consequences.”
However, Ramirez gave a different account. She said Sierra-Hernandez had accidentally bumped the back of a CBP vehicle and was told at the time he was free to go. She said he had planned to voluntarily turn himself in — and eventually did. ABC7 reported that Sierra-Hernandez later surrendered to authorities and has since been released on bail.
Local officials condemned the forceful raid. “This family did nothing wrong,” said Huntington Park Mayor Arturo Flores. “They were involved in a minor traffic accident, and this is the level of violence and the response that we get.”
Ramirez said agents never warned her before entering and even flew a drone into the house after the explosion. The family is now demanding answers about the tactics used in what they say was an unnecessarily violent encounter.
