A Huntington Park home was raided Friday by federal agents who set off an explosive in the doorway as they searched for a man who U.S. Customs and Border Protection claimed rammed into a CBP vehicle. The man was not at the home, but his girlfriend and two young children were present and escorted out of the residence by armed agents, a video of the raid shows.
The man the agents were looking for a U.S. citizen who was identified by his girlfriend Jenny Ramirez as Jorge Sierra-Hernandez of Huntington Park.
He was not at the residence at the time agents raided the home, but he and his girlfriend and children live there together. Ramirez told broadcasters that she believed he was being sought in connection with a car accident Sierra-Hernandez was involved in last week when his Jeep ran into the back of a vehicle of federal agents. Ramirez told NBC4 that they were told they were free to leave after the crash.
A video of the raid shows a bright flash as an explosion is set off in the doorway and agents approaching the Huntington Park residence on the 3500 block of Flower Street on Friday, June 27. An armored vehicle is visible in the street in front of the home and several armed agents dressed in green uniforms can be seen standing in the driveway, stating that they are police and instructing the occupants of the Flower Street residence to come out with their hands interlaced behind their heads. The agents entered the home and used a drone to assess the inside.
Four agents approach the door and a woman, Ramirez, holding a small child in her arms, with another child holding her hand and walking next to her are seen walking out of the home in the footage, obtained by OnScene TV, a freelance media group that sometimes works with the Southern California News Group.
In footage of the aftermath, the door of the home is seen on the ground of the entryway, off its hinges and a window is shattered.
Ramirez told broadcasters that she was not told by agents why they were looking for her boyfriend, but that he called her later on Friday and told her that he had been contacted by CBP. He told Ramirez that CBP told him he needed to turn himself in and Ramirez told NBC4 he planned to comply.
In a statement on Friday, CBP confirmed that Sierra-Hernandez was arrested.
“Jorge Sierra-Hernandez was arrested because he rammed his car into a CBP vehicle, causing significant damage and obstructed the work of our agents and officers during course of a law enforcement operation,” a CBP spokesperson said. “During this incident, agents were assaulted and additional rioters threw rocks and other objects at our personnel. Anyone who actively obstructs or assaults law enforcement, including U.S. citizens, will face consequences which include arrest.”
Officials did not answer questions on the case related to why Sierra-Hernandez was released the day of the crash, what evidence exists that show he rammed the CBP vehicle intentionally or if they attempted to contact Sierra-Hernandez prior to the raid on his girlfriend’s home.
A neighbor told KCAL News that on the day of the crash, the couple had been trying to leave the area in Bell, where an immigration enforcement raid was taking place. While the circumstances surrounding the crash are not clear, social media videos from the location of the crash show a large crowd forming at one point as agents are standing on the street, identified as Atlantic Avenue in Bell. Immigration enforcement and federal agents have drawn large crowds of protesters when they are spotted in recent weeks throughout Southern California, whether or not an enforcement raid is actively taking place.