Federal immigration agents reportedly raided an Oklahoma family’s home and seized their phones, laptops, and life savings.
The agents had the wrong home.
KFOR reported that the family, who had just moved to Oklahoma from Maryland, experienced a traumatizing ordeal when 20 armed federal agents broke into their home, ransacked the residence, and pointed guns at the occupants, which included three small girls.
Marisa, the mother of three daughters, said she was awakened by “about 20 men, armed with guns,” who “busted through the door” carrying a warrant that listed names that did not belong to anyone in the household.
“We’re citizens. That’s what I kept saying. We’re citizens,” Marisa told KFOR.
The mother recalled that the agents forced her and her daughter out into the rain. Some were wearing only their undergarments. “They wanted me to change in front of all of them, in between all of them,” she said.
Even though Marisa repeatedly told them she was an American citizen and that their names were not on the warrant, the agents tore the house apart and stole their belongings, including phones, laptops, and cash.
“I told them before they left, I said you took my phone. We have no money. I just moved here,” she recounted. “Like, how do you just leave me like this? Like an abandoned dog.”
🚨 JUST IN: ICE busted into the home of an American citizen, tore apart her house, terrorized her, and walked off with her phone and all the cash in the house….
— Maine (@TheMaineWonk) April 29, 2025
all based on bad information.
pic.twitter.com/aNP3T68RFt
The agents appear to have used a practice known as civil asset forfeiture to seize the family’s property. This practice empowers law enforcement to take property if they believe it was used to commit a crime – without due process or evidence.
Marisa said the agents identified themselves as US Marshals, ICE, and the FBI. However, the Marshals Service denied involvement in the raid, as did the FBI.
However, a senior Homeland Security official told The Independent that ICE was “carrying out a court authorized search warrant for a large-scale human smuggling investigation.”
The search warrants included the location of an address where U.S. citizens recently moved. The previous residents were the intended targets. The investigation resulted in the indictment of eight Guatemalan nationals for their roles in smuggling illegal aliens into the United States. Two of the eight indicted aliens have criminal convictions for narcotics possession, identity fraud, money laundering, and re-entry after deportation.
Earlier this month, ICE agents used an axe to smash a car window belonging to a man in New Bedford, Massachusetts named Juan Francisco-Mendez. His attorney said the agents “said they were looking for a certain individual, by a different name,” CBS News reported.
The family of a Guatemalan man says ICE agents smashed a car window and detained him, the AP reports.
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) April 17, 2025
Juan Francisco Mendez had applied for asylum, his lawyer said. An ICE spokesperson did not return repeated messages seeking comment, according to the AP. pic.twitter.com/CBkaQHZySl
Mendez has no criminal record and is waiting for the finalization of his asylum status. He and his family were protected under asylum status after facing persecution in Guatemala.
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