Dozens of federal agents used explosives to raid a Huntington Park home Friday morning, but the suspect they were looking for wasn’t there — his girlfriend and young children were.
After explosions blew out the windows, agents in tactical gear kicked down the front door and stormed the home on the 7500 block of California Avenue, where they believed suspect Jorge Sierra-Hernandez might be. U.S. Customs and Border Protection later confirmed he was the target of the operation.
Univision spoke with the woman who was home, Jenny Ramirez, who told them in Spanish, “I’m nervous. I’m really nervous. I don’t know what to do. I need help. They shouldn’t have come into my house with that violence.”
Ramirez also said, “They told me they’re from Homeland Security, ICE, they just exploded my window and door. They didn’t identify who they were looking for.”
The incident that led to the raid stems from a June 20 protest in Bell. Federal officials allege Sierra-Hernandez rammed his vehicle into a CBP unit during the protest. Neighbors, however, told KTLA that a federal agent allegedly brake-checked Sierra-Hernandez, who was driving a black Jeep. He was reportedly questioned and released at the time, but officials have not confirmed this version of events.
Bell Police initially posted a statement about the incident online but have since removed it. KTLA reached out for clarification but has not heard back.
However, previous stories on this protest included clips from the release, reporting that the Bell Police Department responded to a traffic collision involving a possibly injured child near Atlantic Avenue and Brompton Street at around 3 p.m. on June 20. Initial reports said the front of the Jeep was pinned under the Border Patrol vehicle, and that federal agents were working to separate the cars and get the child out. The driver, according to Bell PD, had already either gotten out or had been removed from the Jeep by the time officers arrived. At the scene, police said they learned that the driver of a Jeep had rear-ended the Border Patrol vehicle.
“Due to heightened tensions surrounding federal immigration enforcement activities, a crowd began to form around the scene,” BPD added. “Some individuals breached traffic safety barricades, attacked U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents, and vandalized police vehicles.”
KTLA is still working to confirm the details of the Bell incident and why officials returned looking for that resident on Friday morning.
Officials initially told KTLA on Friday, “CBP does not comment on active operations. But what you’re seeing are the consequences for someone obstructing and assaulting federal agents.”
However, later in the day, Customs and Border Protection issued the following updated statement: “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. 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.”
Neighbors say Sierra-Hernandez turned himself in to authorities later Friday afternoon.
This was not the first time federal agents raided a home in Huntington Park where, instead of finding the suspect inside, they found a mother and kids. On June 12, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem joined federal immigration agents on a raid targeting a man with a criminal record. About a half-dozen vehicles carrying heavily armed, masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents converged on a home occupied by a 28-year-old pregnant mother and her four children. The agents were looking for her husband, who was not home at the time. DHS later posted on X that the target of the raid was “an illegal alien from Mexico who had previously been deported. His criminal history includes drug trafficking and assault.”
The post Mother and young kids inside during explosive Huntington Park raid; suspect not home appeared first on KTLA.
