ICE agents detained four people from a Burnsville home, according to family members, including a 7-year-old’s parents and the husband of a pregnant woman.
BURNSVILLE, Minnesota โ On Saturday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided a home in Burnsville and detained four people, according to family members at the house.ย
Ring camera footage shows more than a dozen agents at the front door of the home on McAndrews Road.
“They just kept banging on the door until they broke it down,” said Sofia Alvarado, through an interpreter. Alvarado’s husband owns the home and they rent the lower level.ย
Damage could be seen not only on the front door but also on multiple doors throughout the home on both levels.ย
Alvarado heard banging and she, along with three other family members on the upper floor, hid in the bathroom, not knowing who was at the door.ย
Angel, Sofia’s brother, said ICE agents took his sister, mom, daughter and niece into the kitchen and made them hand over their phones.
“They all were scared, crying… they were pointing with the guns not to move,” Angel said. ย
He said all four are U.S. citizens and were able to show their paperwork to ICE eventually.ย
Sofia said it all started when the couple renting on the lower level was headed home from the grocery store. According to Sofia, the couple was followed home by ICE agents.ย
Ring camera footage shows ICE agents detaining the man while the woman runs away. Family said she ran into the house and hid with her 7-year-old boy.ย
On Sunday, a large hole could be seen through the bedroom door. Sofia and other family members at the house said ICE agents detained both of the 7-year-olds’ parents and that his father has a work permit.ย
Sofia says ICE also detained another man downstairs and a fourth man, a father to two kids with a third child on the way.ย
His wife, who asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons, is six months pregnant.ย
“She said as soon as her husband walked out of the room, she didn’t see him again,” an interpreter told KARE 11.ย
She hid with her 7-year-old daughter and 1-and-a-half-year-old boy.ย
“When she went out, they were pointing their guns at her,” an interpreter said.ย
She said the family is here illegally from Honduras for work and that ICE told her to voluntarily self-deport.ย
An interpreter said, “She said that if you can have someone help her… have her husband come back home because in the state that she is in with two kids and one more on the way, she thinks it’s going to be very hard for her.”
She is also now taking care of the 7-year-old boy while they wait to find out what will happen to his parents.ย
The families at the house claimed ICE entered the home without showing a warrant. On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security told KARE 11 that they had obtained a warrant of removal before entering the home.ย
“If they’re going to enter an actual home or a premises to arrest somebody, I don’t believe that just a removal order alone would overcome somebody’s fourth amendment rights,” said Michael Davis, managing partner at Davis Immigration Lawyers, PLLC in Minneapolis. “There is some debate about an administrative warrant versus a judicial warrant, and the usual rule is that they would have to have a judicial warrant to enter. Just a pure administrative warrant would not be sufficient.”ย
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin responded to KARE 11’s request for comment on Wednesday and said, “On Dec. 6, 2025, ICE law enforcement officers conducted a targeted enforcement operation to arrest illegal aliens released into the country by the Biden administration.”
DHS said when officers attempted a vehicle stop, the couple ignored law enforcement’s commands. As the woman fled, officers were able to arrest the man. DHS claims he “kicked and assaulted law enforcement.” Ring camera footage shows the initial encounter. An agent can be seen running towards the man after he exits the vehicle. They immediately clash, with the man falling to the ground. Two agents then can be seen on top of him.ย
McLaughlin added that “the U.S. citizens in the house were never arrested. They were briefly questioned.”
DHS identified the four people detained as Rosibel Rivera Amaya, Jose Otero Rodriguez, Geyser Ramirez Mejia and Jose Mateo Romero.ย
The city of Burnsville put out a statement on Sunday saying that they are “actively monitoring federal immigration activity” and that “Burnsville Police do not engage in federal immigration enforcement and are typically not notified of federal operations.”
