A Nicaraguan man says he’s barricaded himself and his family, including three children, inside a California home for six days in an apparent attempt to flee from a deportation order.
Roberto José Reyes Castro, 35, who illegally entered the country three years ago, fled from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) into his home in Fontana, about 49 miles east of Los Angeles.
He has since refused to leave, showing security camera footage of two federal agents wearing vests with ‘police’ inscribed on the back repeatedly kicking the door and trying to open it.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed they attempted to arrest Reyes on July 30, describing him 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.’
In separate interviews with Noticias Telemundo and Univision Noticias, Reyes said that the incident began when the men rear-ended his SUV in an attempt to box him in. He fled and ran back home where his wife was waiting with an open door to narrowly escape arrest.
One agent can be seen on camera approaching an area outside the home, where he stopped and said, ‘Come out, come out.’
He later returned to the same spot to convince Reyes to turn himself in and flashed a pair of keys, saying: ‘This your house key?’
‘Seeing the hooded men made me nervous, I ran away,’ he told Univision Noticias. ‘If they were ICE agents, they would have brought a warrant.’
Reyes entered the country with his wife and three children three years ago under the CBP One app.
However, Noticias Telemundo revealed that ICE obtained an order of deportation in October 2024.
While Reyes claimed he did not have any pending criminal charges, he admitted that the agents came searching for him after he had a ‘disagreement with neighbor, who threatened him with a gun’.
Reyes pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace, while more serious charges of assault with a deadly weapon were dismissed, according to court documents reported by a local ABC7 News.
DailyMail.com reached out to ICE and Fontana Police Department.
The Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, a non-profit organization that works with the immigrant community, initiated a fundraiser to assist the family.
Reyes told Noticias Telemundo that he and his wife have been unable to leave their homes for a week and have lost their jobs.
‘We haven’t had anything to eat, so we’ve had to buy anything because they’re waiting for us outside,’ he said. ‘They’ve [been] knocking on our door. We’ve been very frustrated; they’ve been verbally and physically harassing us.’
Inland Coalition for Immigrant advocate Javier Hernandez told KCAL that if the agents had an arrest warrant they could have found the way to have entered the home.
‘What we are concerned about is were they actually there looking for him or was this another case of racial profiling here,’ he said.