A woman pleaded with ICE agents in Spanish not to take her husband, then agents broke the car window with their baby still inside

An Illinois family’s car was surrounded by ICE agents while their baby sat in the back seat, according to The Nerd Stash. The stop ended with agents shattering a car window and opening the doors. A caption on the Instagram post sharing the footage says it happened in Chicago at about 7:20 a.m. Sept. 25.

In the clip, the father sits at the wheel with the mother beside him and their baby behind them. Agents question the pair while they stay seated, and the father keeps insisting they have the wrong man. His wife becomes more and more upset, telling officers the man in their photo is someone else.

Crying, she pleads in Spanish for them to leave her husband with the family. “Please, no. He’s the only thing my baby and I have. Please, no,” she says. She keeps saying the agents are looking for a different person. “Please, brother. He’s not the one in the photo. He’s not,” she says. She insists the agents aren’t bad people, saying her husband’s only goal is to provide for his family.

He showed ID and explained his case

Holding up his identification, the father offers his own explanation. “I’m not the one in the photo, brother. I’m not,” he says to them. He mentions an open immigration case and seems to say that the pending process keeps him from answering some of their questions.

His wife reminds the agents that they have homes and families too. “You have families, friend. You have families. He is not the one,” she says. She starts to pray, urging them again and again to have faith in God. Using a tool, agents then break a window and pull the door open. A second agent opens the passenger door, striking the camera, and the footage cuts off.

FindLaw explains that ICE administrative warrants are issued by Department of Homeland Security officials rather than a judge. The ACLU advises that people have the right to remain silent and to refuse consent to a search of themselves, their car or their home. It also says they do not have to answer questions about their immigration status. DHS has publicly defended its use of administrative warrants, a Just Security analysis of an op-ed by the department’s general counsel shows.

Filing for asylum does not by itself protect someone from detention, an immigration law firm’s explainer notes. Enforcement decisions turn on factors such as a person’s immigration and criminal history. The same explainer advises anyone with enforcement concerns to get individualized advice from an immigration attorney.

Many detained immigrants can request a bond hearing before an immigration judge. However, a 2025 Board of Immigration Appeals ruling, Matter of Yajure Hurtado, holds that judges lack authority to grant bond to people present in the country without admission. Some detainees have turned to federal habeas petitions to seek a hearing instead.

The Instagram account also says the couple’s asylum case is still pending, and that the mother was taken into custody before being let go. The outlet stated it has not independently verified those claims.