Roberto Reyes had barely left his Fontana, California, apartment and was just a block down the road on his way to work when four white cars swarmed him, boxing in his vehicle.
Within moments, the 32-year-old father frantically looked for an escape as he noticed an immigration officer hop out of one of the cars. Tapping into his survival instincts, Reyes spotted a gap between the vehicles and fled, leaving his wallet, keys and other belongings inside the car.
As he ran back to his apartment, Reyes said he called his wife and daughter to open the door – all while the agents chased him, not far behind.
In security camera video from Reyes’ apartment, the Nicaraguan immigrant can be seen narrowly escaping the agents’ grasp as he rushed inside his apartment and shut the door.
Reyes along with his wife, three children, and mother-in-law, have been barricaded inside their home for more than a week out of fear of being detained by immigration agents. They arrived from Nicaragua three years ago, seeking asylum.
“We are afraid and we’ve seen there are cases where they separate the children, their parents are deported, the children are left here, that is my fear,” Reyes said.
Officers seen kicking door and waving keys in front of camera
After Reyes shut the door to his apartment on July 30, one of the agents fiercely kicked the front door multiple times as if trying to break it down, the security footage shows.
“But I was at the door holding it because they were doing everything they could to get in,” Reyes said, noting his daughter hit her head as she tried to help keep the door shut.
Later, an officer appears to be taunting Reyes by waving a set of keys in front of one of the security cameras installed outside the family’s apartment.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed federal immigration agents attempted to detain Reyes last week. He was described as a “dangerous criminal illegal alien from Nicaragua with a criminal history including assault with a deadly weapon, exhibiting a deadly weapon, and disturbing the peace.”
Reyes told CNN he was wrongfully accused in relation to an incident with a neighbor and the case has been dismissed. CNN reached out to the San Bernardino County Superior Court to confirm the case was dismissed.
Since his encounter with immigration agents, Reyes said no warrant or summons has been presented to him or his family.
But the agents have not stopped approaching their apartment and the family has seen unknown cars parked near or in his apartment building’s parking lot, he said.
“They send infiltrators to knock on my door to see if we’re there, they park in some parking spaces,” Reyes said.
Isolated but bolstered with community support
Neither Reyes, who is an electrician, has been able to go to work, nor his children have attended school. They are also worried about his mother-in-law who is recovering from lung surgery and could need medical care.
The incident and the isolation have started to weigh on their mental health. Even hearing a knock on the door has become traumatic for Reyes’ family, they said.
“My wife seems anxious, she has not been able to sleep, she is very skinny, she has not been able to eat,” Reyes said.
Reyes’ daughter said her worst nightmare is that immigration agents would enter the apartment and take her mother.
In the past days, community members and a local immigration coalition have rallied to support the family through the ordeal.
Javier Hernandez, executive director for the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, said he was able to bring the family food, personal hygiene items and water.
“Our first thought again, was their well-being … their physical well-being, ‘Do they have water? Do they have food?’” Hernandez said.
Now, the organization is set on trying to figure out how to keep the family in the country.
Reyes and his family left Nicaragua after being persecuted for their political activism, and sought asylum at the southern border, Hernandez said.
At the time, the family sought an immigration attorney for their asylum case but couldn’t afford the high fees. They were asked for an initial payment of $8,000 with a total fee amounting to $25,000 for their entire family, Reyes said.
“I was the only one supporting my wife and my children, and we didn’t have the resources to pay a lawyer, and so we can’t afford one,” Reyes said, adding he wants to continue his application process.
For now, Reyes said he is willing to stay at home as long as is needed and do whatever is in his hands.
“I want to work legally, go forward and provide for my children,” Reyes said.
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