Editor’s note: This story was updated to include details from the Justice Department on Juan Ramon Hernandez-Limon’s warrant and prior charges. It was also updated to clarify that as of press time it’s unclear what kind of gas was deployed during the arrest. Additionally, the story was updated to reflect that the Current sought comment from the Department of Homeland Security for comment, not ICE.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents used armored vehicles and gas during the arrest of an undocumented immigrant in San Antonio during a deportation action, News4SA reports. ICE officer Michael Dryja confirmed details of the arrest during testimony at a Feb. 5 probable cause hearing in federal court, according to the NBC affiliate. The station also reported that officers used the tactics even though they saw a woman and child enter the house.
The Current reached out to Department of Homeland Security officials for comment on the arrest but received no response.
Juan Ramon Hernandez-Limon was sweeping the front porch of his West Side home on in late January, when ICE agents approached him, according to court testimony reported on by News4. Dryja testified that Hernandez-Limon said he’d done nothing wrong and went inside.
Federal, state and local law enforcement personnel then surrounded the house for hours while Dryja obtained a warrant for the man’s arrest, the officer reportedly said in testimony.
Authorities sought Hernandez-Limon’s arrest because he was wanted for illegal reentry, according to a Jan. 28 statement from the U.S. Justice Department. He’d also been convicted in 2021 on charges of illegal reentry and alien in possession of a firearm and in 2024 of illegal reentry, department officials said.
Hernandez-Limon had called the Untied States home since he was 6 months old, News4 reports, citing court testimony. He was a DACA recipient until that status expired in 2015, according to the station.
Once authorities obtained the warrant, they used a police intercom to tell Hernandez-Limon they planned to arrest him, the ICE officer reportedly testified. When Hernandez-Limon failed to exit the home, agents used an armored vehicle to bust down the front and back doors, according to News4.
Hernandez-Limon made an easy target for authorities newly emboldened by the Trump administration’s executive orders, according to News4. The man had reportedly been deported in 2018 after an arrest for pot possession and eventually returned to San Antonio where his family lives.
In testimony, Dryja said federal agents conducted surveillance on Hernandez-Limon’s home over the past month to verify that he was back in the States illegally before striking as part of the nationwide deportation push.
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This article appears in Feb 5-18, 2025.
