A shocking incident in Alamosa, Colorado, has sparked outrage after video footage showed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents pointing guns at a family and smashing the window of their car while a 1-month-old baby was inside.
Afternoon Arrest Turns Violent in Alamosa
The arrest took place in the middle of the afternoon as Jose Aguilera, 33, his partner Maya England, 21, and their infant son were driving home from the Alamosa County courthouse. According to England, three unmarked SUVs suddenly began following them. Moments later, the vehicles switched on sirens and flashing lights and boxed the family’s car in at an intersection.
England, who was in the back seat holding her baby, started recording on her phone. The video shows an ICE agent stepping out of a vehicle with his gun drawn, pointing it directly at Aguilera as he approached the driver’s side window. The agent shouted at Aguilera to open the door.
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Aguilera, who was behind the wheel, cracked the window slightly to speak with the officer. At the same time, another agent, wearing a U.S. Customs and Border Protection hat, came up from behind the car and began hitting the window with a baton. Within seconds, the impact shattered the glass, and it sprayed shards inside the car where the baby sat.
Startled and frightened, England screamed, “There’s a child! There’s a baby!” But the agents kept ordering Aguilera to get out of the vehicle at gunpoint. Aguilera opened the door, glass pieces covering him, and the officers handcuffed him immediately.
ICE Agents Cite Immigration Warrant in Alamosa
As Aguilera was detained, England repeatedly asked the agents why he was being arrested. One of the officers responded that he had an “immigration warrant.” When she asked to see the warrant, the agents told her she could request it at their office.
Aguilera was then led to an unmarked SUV and taken to an ICE holding center on State Street. England followed the vehicle, but when she arrived at the facility, she said no one answered her questions or gave her any information about Aguilera’s status.
Later that evening, Aguilera called her from ICE’s detention center in Aurora, Colorado. By Tuesday evening, however, his name no longer appeared on the official ICE inmate locator website, leaving England unsure of his exact whereabouts.
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Colorado law, passed in 2020, prohibits ICE from arresting people who are traveling to or from a courthouse. When reporters asked about the case, Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office said the attorney general can enforce the state law but declined to provide further comments on potential investigations.
Records show that authorities ordered Aguilera to be removed from the United States in 2015. He also faced a misdemeanor drunk driving charge and two related traffic offenses in Colorado at the time of his arrest. Aguilera, who came to the U.S. from Mexico when he was about 20, had been working as a carpenter and handyman.
A Pattern of Forceful Arrests
This incident in Alamosa is not isolated. Reports from across the country show ICE agents increasingly using forceful tactics during arrests. A ProPublica investigation found that immigration officers broke car windows at least 50 times during the first six months of President Donald Trump’s term. In comparison, journalists documented only eight such cases in the previous decade.
In some situations, children and pregnant women have been inside vehicles at the time of the arrests. Just weeks before the Alamosa incident, an ICE agent at a New York courthouse threw a mother to the ground in front of her children. Earlier in September, another ICE agent in Chicago shot and killed a man in his car after he had dropped off his 3-year-old son at day care. Video later showed the man driving away as agents attempted to detain him.
Legal experts say ICE has broad authority to enforce immigration laws, but some argue the agency has been “pushing the limits” of that power. Jennifer Whitlock, Senior Policy Counsel at the National Immigration Law Center, said incidents like Aguilera’s arrest demonstrate how far agents are willing to go.
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Tim Macdonald of the ACLU Colorado called the Alamosa arrest video “deeply disturbing,” saying it should concern any American to see law enforcement smashing car windows and pointing guns at families with infants.
Immigration attorney Hans Meyer added that many families lack resources to challenge ICE actions, noting he has represented several people in cases where agents broke windows and used weapons to force them from vehicles.
Meanwhile, Maya England is left to care for her baby alone. She said Aguilera was the family’s only earner, and now she faces financial hardship while recovering from cuts caused by flying glass and dealing with their damaged car.