Migrant family in US left ‘traumatised’ as ICE agents storm home, points gun at mother, baby | Video
A US migrant family was left ‘traumatised’ after ICE agents raided their home, pointing guns at relatives, including a mother holding her three-month-old baby, in Gresham, Oregon.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were filmed pointing guns at an ‘illegal immigrant family’, including a mother holding her three-month-old baby, during a raid on their home in Gresham, Oregon, in the United States, on Wednesday evening. Footage shared on social media shows ICE agents forcing their way into the family’s apartment, around 17 miles outside Portland. The video captures the moment officers kicked down a bedroom door and shouted, “Police, don’t move, hands up.”
The baby, who was in Magana’s arms, could be heard crying off-camera as agents entered the room. “This is unfair, they scared my baby,” Magana wrote in her Facebook post. “We are not criminals to be treated that way let alone point us with guns.”
Family ‘traumatised’
The baby’s grandmother, Gloria Bautista, told The Independent that her daughter was deeply shaken by the incident.
“The mother is so traumatised that anything scares her, she's shaking all the time,” Bautista said.
Two male relatives were detained by ICE agents during the raid. In the footage, one officer appears to grab a man by the hair and pull him backwards out of the room. Both men were later taken to a detention centre in Tacoma, Washington.
ICE says operation targeted ‘violent criminal’
A senior Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official told The Independent that “no injuries were sustained” during the operation, which was aimed at arresting “a previously removed violent criminal illegal alien from Mexico” who remains at large.
According to the official, ICE officers had tried to stop the suspect’s vehicle before he allegedly rammed into a US Postal Service van and fled on foot into the apartment.
“After refusals to come out, law enforcement entered the apartment,” the official said, adding that “the target escaped and remains at large. Two other aliens from Mexico were found inside the apartment and taken into ICE custody.”
Magana told Noticias Noroeste NW that ICE agents had been attempting to enter the property for hours before forcing their way in. One officer was heard in the video saying to her: “Why don’t you put the phone down, we’re in your house right now.”
The family has maintained that the two detained men are in the country legally.
Support and fundraising efforts
A GoFundMe page was launched by Ashley Valdez, who identified herself as Magana’s cousin, to raise funds for legal support.
Valdez wrote that the agents “came in forcibly with guns pointing at them” and that the mother “feared for her newborn baby.”
“Her daughter was present and captured all on camera as she feared for her 3-month-old newborn baby on what would happen next,” Valdez said.
GoFundMe confirmed the campaign’s authenticity to The Independent. Valdez added, “These people are not criminals. They are hard-working people, they don't deserve this.”
Tensions over immigration enforcement in Portland
The raid comes amid heightened tensions between federal authorities and local leaders in Oregon. The Trump administration has repeatedly pushed to deploy the National Guard to Portland as part of its anti-crime measures, though federal judges have blocked the move.
Former President Donald Trump has previously described the liberal city as “war-ravaged,” as clashes continue between anti-immigration protesters and federal agents outside Portland’s ICE facility.