Dramatic video shows the moment federal agents blew up the front door of a residence in Huntington Park early Friday morning, using a drone to search room by room for a man they say rammed a federal vehicle last week during immigration raids.
"They were right here with their rifles and we heard some screaming up in the front but we couldn't see because everything was blocked, but it was pretty shocking," said Lourdes Salazar.
That man, Jorge Sierra-Hernandez, was not home at the time, but his girlfriend and two young children were, leaving them shaking with fear due to the aggressive tactics of those agents.
He is now back home with his family after turning himself in Friday.
"If they would've knocked on my door I would have opened the door, but they blew up the window and door first," said Jenny Ramirez, Sierra's girlfriend. "There didn't have to be that violence to enter my house."
A window shattered, the front door was blown off by the explosion and a drone was sent in. Inside, a terrified Ramirez trying to protect the couple's two young children.
Ramirez said she was sleeping with her baby when her neighbor called to alert her of the dozens of agents outside her home.
'Where they broke the window, my baby was there and before I got him out of there was when it exploded," said Ramirez. "My ears went blank, I imagine how they felt. They were shaking."
When she heard the explosion, she dropped to the floor with her children as a drone went in and searched for Sierra room by room.
"They didn't knock on the door, they didn't let me know they were them, they just blew up my window and my door and a drone came in," Ramirez said.
Once the drone went out, at least nine agents moved in with guns drawn. They eventually escorted Ramirez and her children outside.
"They didn't identify themselves until I came out, they told me they were from Homeland Security, from ICE," said Ramirez.
She said pleaded with them to give her an explanation, but instead of giving her an answer, they said "when we find him he's going to know why."
Huntington Park Mayor Arturo Flores denounced the aggressive tactics.
"What happened here this morning is hard to put into words," he said.
The federal action stemmed from an incident during a protest against ICE activity in the Bell/ Maywood area last week.
There were reports of people running into federal cars. A government spokesman claimed Sierra rammed his car into a Border Patrol vehicle and obstructed the work of agents.
"This family did nothing wrong," said Flores. "They were involved in a minor traffic accident and this is the level of violence and the response that we get."
The mayor told Eyewitness News that agents called Sierra after Friday morning's action at his home.
"They told Jorge 'Have they told you what we did? Do you know what we did?' And he said 'Yeah, I talked to my wife'."
Sierra turned himself in to federal agents and is now free on bail. He told Eyewitness News he does now know what charges he is facing.
"Set aside the monetary damage. You cannot put physical damage, you cannot put a dollar amount on the emotional damage and the trauma, also for the children," said the mayor.
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