Authorities say police officers assisting in an immigration investigation at a Warren County apartment found three young children who had been left home alone in "unclean" conditions.

Hackettstown police say that the officers were assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents by serving an immigration warrant for town resident Luis Froilan Ortega-Calle, 30. 

When officers went to the Main Street residence around 8 a.m. Wednesday and knocked on the door, they say a 6-year-old girl answered. The officers soon determined she and her sisters - a 3-year-old and a 9-month old - were by themselves. Police say that the apartment was unclean and disheveled.

Law enforcement agents outside the building soon saw the girls' parents, Ortega-Callie and 26-year-old Josselyn Eneida DeLeon-Garcia, approach the building. But the couple allegedly ran off when they spotted the officers. They were caught several blocks away.

Police say that the couple left the children without care when they went to work at 11:30 p.m. the previous evening. 

Ortega-Calle was taken into custody by ICE. He and DeLeon-Garcia are now facing child neglect charges.

The girls were turned over to child welfare officials.