U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro is demanding an investigation following video of what appears to be armed immigration agents’ chaotic search of a San Antonio residence, which the Democratic lawmaker described as a “home invasion.”
Clips of the incident went viral this week, prompting Castro, who represents the city’s West Side, to call for a federal probe. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents carried out the search despite having no warrant, he added.
“In San Antonio [on Thursday], U.S. citizens got roughed up — a U.S. citizen got roughed up — by ICE agents who barged into their home with no warrant,” Castro said during a Friday afternoon call with reporters. “And Gov. [Greg] Abbott, as far as I can tell, has not said a word about it.”
The Current reached out to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but received no immediate comment.
Video shared on social media shows residents of the home repeatedly asking the agents, who have their guns drawn, to put them away because a child is in the house. The agents also ignore requests to identify the suspect they’re allegedly seeking, although one of the armed eventually yells, “He’s a child molester, you know that?”
While agents in the clips wear what appear to be bullet-proof vests marked “Police,” none of the vests show ICE or Border Patrol insignias.
Another of the videos shows the agents scuffle with a man, then wrestle him to the ground. The segment doesn’t show what led up to the altercation.
‘We can’t event sleep’
Maggie Guillen, who shared the videos on social media, identified herself as the homeowner and said everyone present there is legally in the country. She accused agents of entering without a warrant and said they later acknowledged they had searched for the wrong person.
“We can’t even sleep in peace after what happened,” Guillen said in a Facebook post. “We got home and my baby tells me he[‘]s scared about police with guns.”
Castro held his media call after touring an ICE detention center in Pearsall, roughly an hour southeast of San Antonio.
Castro said he confirmed while at the prison that Abbott had ordered members of the Texas National Guard to serve administrative roles at the facility, called the South Texas ICE Processing Center.
By filling those positions with state personnel, Abbott — a Republican and vocal Trump ally — had freed up more ICE personnel to carry out aggressive enforcement actions in places such as Minneapolis and San Antonio, according to the Congressman.
“Gov. Abbott has a lot of explaining to do to the people of Texas about why he’s enabling a corrupt and lawless ICE operation,” Castro said.
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