NATIONAL CITY, Calif. (KGTV) -- A family in National City says Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) violated their rights during an arrest on Tuesday morning.
Brianna Alonso says her husband was heading to work when he saw ICE agents and ran back into his house.
A spokesperson for ICE tells 10News 31-year-old Alberto Alonso-Hernandez is wanted for illegally re-entering the country 16 times since 2013 and for a domestic violence conviction in 2014.
His wife disputes ICE's numbers. She says her husband was deported twice before Tuesday's arrest.
She's upset because she says ICE agents never showed them a warrant before entering. Brianna says the agents gave her the warrant after her husband was in custody.
However, according to a criminal attorney, ICE was just doing their job. Exercising the "no-knock" rule, where the officers do not have to show the warrant if they have probable cause that the suspect will get away or destroy possible evidence.
ICE sent us the following statements regarding Tuesday's arrest:
Alberto Alonso-Hernandez, a 31 year-old Mexican national, was taken into ICE custody by officers with the San Diego Enforcement and Removal Operations office in San Diego. ERO officers attempted to arrest Mr. Alonso-Hernandez during a vehicle stop near this residence. The suspect fled from the scene and hid inside his house, forcing the officers to obtain a criminal arrest warrant for illegal re-entering the United States. The warrant was issued by a federal judge and Mr. Alonso-Hernandez was taken into custody at his residence several hours later.
Mr. Alonso-Hernandez was targeted for arrest based on his prior criminal and immigration history. ICE records reveal he was convicted for battery of a spouse in 2014, and has illegally re-entered the United States 16 times since 2003.
The officers are highly trained on safety precautions and legal aspects of serving an arrest warrant. An arrest warrant is handled somewhat different than a search warrant in that the officers have authorization to enter the location for the arrest of the individual named on the warrant. The priority at entry is to secure the area to ensure for officer safety and to identify the subject as quickly as possible. 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.Background:At the time the warrant was executed, an angry crowd of protestors had gathered outside of resident. Their name calling and shouting escalated. Still, the officers remained calm and the subject was taken into custody.The fact that subject had fled during the initial vehicle stop certainly heightened the need for our officers to take extra safety precautions while acting expeditiously.ICE officers try to avoid executing warrants in the presence of children. However, as shown yesterday, we initially attempted to take custody of the subject outside of the home. After 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. We did not have advance time to know the status of the people/children at the location. We certainly do all we can to avoid confrontation in the presence of children. Our concern would also be to ensure the children are not left alone without an appropriate parent or adult guardian.
