'It's heartbreaking': Daughter speaks out after parents forcibly taken by agents in unmarked vehicles

SAN JUAN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A daughter is speaking out over the "inhumane" treatment of her parents, who were detained by what appears to be federal agents in San Juan last week.

In a video that has gone viral on social media, the family is seen being taken by federal agents wearing bulletproof vests in an unmarked vehicle.

On Nov. 6, Paulina Cabello experienced something she had seen in other parts of the country: families being pulled off the streets and taken into custody.

Cabello told ValleyCentral she was on the phone with her parents as they were headed to her house when her mother told her, "Pao, nos están siguiendo unas trocas negras, creo que vienen desde la casa."

Her mother's quote translates to "Pao, a couple of black trucks have been following us since we left the house."

Cabello told her parents to head over to her house immediately to keep them safe, but things quickly escalated.

Cabello says while she was on the phone with her parents, she could hear police sirens from the call.

Her mom told her to head over to an alleyway near the Basilica of San Juan, where they had been surrounded by federal agents wearing bulletproof vests and carrying weapons in unmarked vehicles.

The incident was captured on video by Cabello's 15-year-old brother, who was in the backseat of the vehicle.

The video shows three people forcibly removing Cabello's parents from their van and attempting to do the same to their brother, while he yells, "I'm a U.S. citizen."

Cabello immediately took her baby from home and rushed over to where her parents were to find out what was going on and help her family.

"I was crying," Cabello said. "I was like, 'Where are my parents?' I kept going in circles around the church until I saw my brother call me and told me they were in the alley."

When Cabello met with her brother, she came across, what she describes as, "alleged agents" and began asking them where her parents were and where they were being taken.

Cabello says they responded by pointing at an unmarked vehicle.

This situation left Cabello with many emotions and questions.

"En el momento me sentí que no pude hacer mucho todo lo que escuché por llamada mi hermano llamándome 'que se están llevando a mis papas, ven ven' iban a dejar a mi hermano ahí en el callejón y yo preguntándole ¿quién eres? ¿Quiénes son estas personas?" said Cabello.

Cabello's quote translates to, "In the moment I felt hopeless, that I couldn't do much, from everything that I heard in the phone call with my brother saying 'They are taking my parents, come, come!' they were going to leave my brother in the alleyway, and I asked them Who are you? Who are these people?"

Cabello said that with the political state of the country, she felt her parents were vulnerable, but didn't imagine it would unfold as it did.

"I had felt for all of them, all the people who have passed through this, and now that it is happening to my family, it is heartbreaking," Cabello said. "I have no words for it. I do not wish this on anyone."

Cabello said the agents involved in her parents' capture took an "inhumane" approach.

After witnessing their parents being taken away, Cabello said her brother is the one hurting the most.

"The trauma that they left to my brother, and this happened a couple of days before his birthday ... How do people expect for a 15-year-old boy to react when his parents are being taken away at gunpoint into an unmarked vehicle," Cabello said.

Cabello said she was able to get in contact with her parents, who are being kept in two different detention centers.

However, Cabello says she is worried about her mother, who is diabetic, has high blood pressure and suffers from knee problems.

"We're hoping she gets the right medical treatment for her, for her knee and that at least they give her her pills at certain hours because of diabetes and high blood pressure," Cabello said.

ValleyCentral reached out to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for comment. A spokesperson for ICE said the incident was not worked by the agency, and referred ValleyCentral to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

"That video specifically was a CBP operation," a spokesperson for ICE told ValleyCentral.

ValleyCentral has also reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for comment. The agency said it had received ValleyCentral's inquiry, but did not release an official statement on the matter at the time this article was published.