“We made sure they had water, they had food, we put gas back in the vehicle when they were getting low just to make sure they were OK,” neighbor Felishadae Young told News Channel 5 in Nashville.

The neighbors then created a human chain blocking the agents as the father and son rushed inside their home.

“I could see if these people were bad criminals, but they’re not,” said another neighbor, Stacey Farley. “They’re just trying to provide for their kids. They work every day, they come home, the kids jump on their trampoline. It’s just a community.”

The ICE agents could have used their administrative warrant to detain the father on the street, but the warrant doesn’t allow officers to forcibly remove anyone from a vehicle or home.

Nashville lawyer Daniel Ayoade Yoon said that the immigration officers were “bullying” the man and his son inside their van, “trying to harass them ... into coming out.” They threatened to arrest them both, and “that’s just not legal,” Ayoade Yoon said. The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department issued a statement Monday saying ICE was trying to issue a detainer for just the father.

Nashville police officers were on the scene to keep the peace but offered no assistance to the ICE agents.