An illegal immigrant was busted by immigration agents in Texas after trying to hide up a tree for around nine hours.

Guatemalan national Raul Ical, 29, fled into the backyard of a house in San Antonio on Tuesday morning after fleeing a traffic stop by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), KSAT reports.

He then scaled a tree, with video showing him high up it as ICE agents waited below.

Authorities tried going up into the tree at least twice to negotiate with Ical before he finally came down at 7 p.m. — some nine hours after he climbed the tree around 10 a.m., neighbors told KENS5.

“You can run, but you can’t hide,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said while sharing news of his bizarre escape bid.

“Whether in a tree or harbored in an activist judge’s house, if you are here illegally, ICE will find you, arrest you, and you will be deported.”

Ical is facing federal criminal charges for illegal re-entry into the US after he was previously deported 12 years ago, according to ICE.

“Ical previously entered the United States unlawfully on March 27, 2013, and was subsequently removed to Guatemala on April 24, 2013,” ICE said in a statement.

It isn’t known exactly when he re-entered the US.

The exact circumstances that led to the traffic stop haven’t been revealed.

During the bizarre standoff, activists had gathered around the house in the west of San Antonio offering advice to the hiding migrant.

“You don’t have to sign anything,” Jose Montoya, an activist with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, yelled at Ical after he came down, the New York Times reported.