BOISE — Friday morning at a local day care, staff and parents witnessed the detainment of a father by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

Nick, a witness and the parent of a seven-month-old and a 4-year-old child, arrived at Mayra’s Spanish Preschool & Daycare around 8:15 a.m. for drop-offs. Before he could leave his car, he said he witnessed approximately eight men in tactical gear, who appeared to be ICE officers, swarm a white car. Nick asked that his last name not be used for this story out of fear for his family’s safety.

The Boise Police Department confirmed that it received a call from someone at the scene, but did not have any further information on the potential ICE operation.

ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.

Mayra’s Spanish Preschool & Daycare is located at 1505 S. Empire Way in west Boise. It has been run by owner Mayra Ramirez Fuentes for seven years.

Nick got out of his vehicle and approached the scene along with Fuentes who he described as crying hysterically. As they walked up, he said an officer yelled “do not impede our investigation, it is a federal crime.”

“He didn’t talk to us, he yelled at us,” he said.

According to Nick, another officer waved a piece of paper and said it was a warrant. While the officer had a document in hand, he did not allow Nick or Fuentes to read it.

Inside the white car was a couple who had just dropped off their 2-year-old son for breakfast, Nick said. The officers proceeded to apprehend the father who was in his pajamas and visibly upset.

Fuentes said she initially ran out of the building after receiving a call from the mother screaming, asking for help.

Within minutes, the officers pulled away in approximately four unmarked cars with the father.

“This whole thing happened in less than five minutes, it was so fast,” Nick said.

Left behind in the car was the man’s wife. Fuentes opened her door and they embraced while sobbing.

“It just was like the most heart-wrenching, terrible thing I’ve ever seen,” Nick said. “And like I said, it just happened so fast. It felt like an abduction.”

Following the detainment, Fuentes recalled seeing unmarked vehicles circling the area two to three weeks ago. She now believes that was the beginning of ICE’s planned operation.

As the man’s family works with an attorney, Nick and Fuentes can only speculate about his residential status and the motivation behind his detainment — details ICE has not shared.

The apprehension seems to have shaken the local community and parents.

Fuentes — a Honduran-American citizen — said the impact of the five-minute detainment is going to continue to affect the day care’s community for a while.

“I think that we are being discriminated against just for being Latinos or not having legal documentation,” Fuentes said in Spanish. “... I do agree that the criminals do need to pay, but there are people who are humble and hardworking, that help the development of this country, that don’t do bad things.”

Since Friday morning, the day care’s parents have come in and things have calmed down. On Friday at around 4 p.m., there were a few dozen protesters outside of the day care, condemning ICE’s actions and supporting parents during pick-up time.

A few hours after the incident, the director of El Sol, another Spanish-language day care in Boise, sent a message to staff.

“We were informed this morning of ICE activity at a childcare facility in Boise. We immediately told our staff (who consists almost entirely of immigrants across all our locations) about it and reminded them of their rights,” Justin Snyder wrote. “I want to reassure you that they are all here with legal status and should not be the subject of any of this insanity.”

Fears of ICE detainments have been heightened in recent weeks following activity in Minnesota. As reported by the Associated Press, President Donald Trump has deployed as many as 3,000 federal officers to the state this year.

The Trump administration has disregarded precedent that protects spaces like schools, churches and hospitals from ICE agents. There have been ongoing challenges of ICE’s methods because of a lack of due process.

Idaho has seen its share of ICE activity as well. In October, ICE detained hundreds in the rural town of Wilder and ultimately arrested 105 individuals.

Nick and his wife, Jessica, opted to keep their kids home Friday after the incident. They have been grappling with answering questions from their 4-year-old who witnessed everything from the backseat of their car.

The couple said they originally enrolled their youngest at the day care because of the strong community. Jessica expressed concern that Boise’s Spanish-language day cares would be targeted in future ICE operations.

“I’m not here to say whether or not he’s some criminal whatever,” she said about the apprehended father, “I just — I can’t imagine a situation where that was an appropriate place to make that arrest.”