A black New Jersey family was arrested for allegedly “loitering” in their own front yard, with some of the arrests caught on video.

Loitering is a bit of a silly criminal offense, but it is indeed illegal. Simply put, it’s defined as hanging out in a public place without any apparent purpose. It’s one of the most widely contested laws for its overall vagueness and downright ridiculousness, but at the moment, it’s still possible to be arrested for it… just not in your own home, right? Wrong.

Black family arrested for loitering in front of their family home in Chester Township....😡😡😡Really!

Who does that? 😡😡😡

Racism written all over this😡😡😡#racism #PoliceBrutality #BlackLivesMatter #BlackTwitterMovement pic.twitter.com/IqnwHLbcbR — Black Barriers (Stop🚫Racism🚫PoliceBrutalty🚫) (@BlackBarriers) October 12, 2019

According to KYW Newsradio, Rachel Briggs’ sons and nephew were playing in her front yard on October 1 when Officer Pasquale Storace III of the Chester Police Department showed up and arrested them on loitering charges.

All of the boys were arrested, leaving the family to try to find the money to bail them out. When they were released the following day, the family threw a welcome home party of sorts, again in Briggs’ front yard. If you can believe it, that’s where things got even worse.

So now a black family has been arrested for loitering on their own front lawn. https://t.co/euLMoLM4qh — Dee Dixon (@PDeeDixon) October 13, 2019

According to Briggs, Storace, who is white, then showed up and re-arrested the same boys as well as several other members of Briggs’ family, again charging them with loitering but this time throwing some resisting arrest charges in there too.

The family’s attorney, Kevin Mincey, has pointed out that what the Chester Police Department and Storace, in particular, are doing is highly illegal, as not only is it impossible to loiter in your own yard, but there aren’t even any loitering laws in place where they live to begin with since they were updated after being deemed unconstitutional in 2012.

Please watch this video of a black family being arrested for “loitering” outside their own home. I saw a black police officer? This did not have to go that far. Police need to take a breath. I know. Look at my profile. @sunny @AngryBlackLady https://t.co/rJMir5UT2m — Kathie – Italian South Bronx Girl (@SambucaAnisette) October 11, 2019

“It essentially says there are to be well-posted areas of no loitering signs up that say ‘no loitering.’ There are no ‘no loitering’ signs in this particular neighborhood,” he said.

Briggs told KYW that her family is scarred by this experience and they feel afraid to even walk out their own front doors.

“It’s a terrifying thing. It makes me feel as though the police can knock down your door, and drag you out of your home at any time,” she said. “This is an incident that made me feel like I’m a prisoner in my own home.”