‘Very few people out in the streets’: ICE surge rattles California’s Central Valley

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Across California’s Central Valley, a reported surge in Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations that began last week has disrupted agricultural communities, sparked confrontations and left families scrambling to locate detained relatives.

In the city of Kerman, Mayor Maria Pacheco confronted ICE agents on Thursday as they detained people.

“You’re not welcome in my city,” she told an agent in a video posted on Facebook. “You’ve taken enough people yesterday. We don’t want you here.”

The following day, a 72-year-old Fresno resident shot and wounded an ICE agent whom police said had fallen asleep on the resident’s daughter’s front lawn, appeared “intoxicated and agitated” and allegedly assaulted the resident. Prosecutors have charged the agent with assault, elder abuse and other crimes.

In Madera, organizers postponed the third annual Oaxacan Guelaguetza festival, amid growing fears, according to the group’s Facebook.

Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias said the enforcement operations led to a drop in school attendance and sparked student protests Friday.

“We’re seeing across-the-board reduction of school attendance, substantial reduction in employees showing up to farm operations, packing sheds and in the fields. Construction has essentially come to a halt,” Arias said. “We’re seeing very few people out in the streets.”

In a written statement, Teresa Romero, president of United Farm Workers, condemned what she described as a “brutal ICE surge.”

“Warrantless stops and roving patrols by masked federal agents across California, especially the Central Valley have been terrorizing farm workers … and the chaos is escalating,” she wrote. “These are not criminals. These are hard-working, long term members of our communities being unlawfully targeted simply for looking Latino and working class.”

In Oxnard, families remain separated and shops are hurting because of deportations and fear of further immigration raids after two in July at Glass House Farms.

Elizabeth Strater, director of strategic campaigns and national vice president of UFW, said farmworkers began reporting the immigration enforcement patrols on Oct. 6. She said it was unclear how many people had been detained so far.

Strater said similar ICE arrests were occurring in the Coachella Valley and in Ventura County, where a preliminary injunction is in place restricting civil arrests without a warrant. Authorities are investigating multiple vehicle accidents in Oxnard and Simi Valley involving ICE agents.

In a written statement, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the increased reports of federal immigration agents across the state were the result of President Trump using “fear and panic as a weapon — putting families at risk, undermining our economy, and terrorizing communities.”

In an emailed response to The Times, an unidentified Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said that “for operational security and the safety of our officers, ICE will not disclose or discuss law enforcement operations.”

“Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country including in California,” the spokesperson said.

A Times review of reported arrests found that some of those detained had recent arrests, while others appeared to have no criminal record.

In Fresno, the children of Noelia Bautista and Cipriano Lopez launched a GoFundMe after their parents were detained. They contend their parents were racially profiled.

An unidentified Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed that ICE arrested the couple last week and said they had “illegally entered the U.S. at unknown times and places.”

“All of their claims will be heard by immigration judges and they will receive due process,” the spokesperson said. “This administration will not ignore the rule of law.”

The spokesperson called allegations of racial profiling “disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE,” adding that “what makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S. — NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity.”

A farmworker, who asked not to be named out of fear of retaliation, told The Times he was pulled over by ICE officers on his way to work last Tuesday, as he drove with three others. He said the officers didn’t know his name. When he declined to answer their questions about where he was born and when he crossed the border, he said the officers let him go.

A Los Angeles federal judge has ordered immigration agents to stop making civil arrests without a warrant unless they first determine that a person is likely to escape before one can be obtained.

In a written statement, the California Farm Bureau reaffirmed its support for agricultural workers, noting that the state is home to one-third of the nation’s agricultural workforce.

Gloria Hernandez, a volunteer with the Valley Watch Network, a rapid response group that tracks ICE arrests and helps families of those detained, said she noticed increased activity at ICE’s downtown Fresno office in the days before the reported surge. She spotted 17 black vehicles and what she described as “a bunch of new ICE people.”

“They’re hitting the small towns, the rural areas, the farmworkers,” she said. “This surge is really horrible.”

Last week, Prudencio Rivera, 31, was driving home from a night shift at a poultry farm when he noticed a truck with Texas plates following him. After a couple of miles, the truck’s emergency lights came on, and he pulled over in Kerman, he said.

Rivera began livestreaming on Facebook. Two officers wearing green vests marked “ICE” stood outside his vehicle.

“I have my papers in order. Everything’s good,” the livestream showed him saying in Spanish through his closed driver’s window.

Rivera told The Times that he entered the U.S. in 2023 through an asylum process, has a work permit and checks in with ICE once a month.

The livestream showed an officer asserting that Rivera’s work permit didn’t give him permission to live here, before saying, “We’re going to break the window.”

After a discussion about Rivera’s immigration status, an officer warned him to look away because they were going to break the back window. Rivera’s video then captured the sound of glass shattering.

DHS did not respond to a request for comment on what prompted officers to stop Rivera.

Rivera told The Times that agents detained him and took him to the ICE office in Fresno, later releasing him after checking his documents and his record.

“When they told me they were going to let me go, I was relieved,” he said. “Imagine, thinking they’re never going to let you leave.”

Brittny Mejia is a Metro reporter covering federal courts and immigration for the Los Angeles Times. She was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2021 for her investigation with colleague Jack Dolan that exposed failures in Los Angeles County’s safety-net healthcare system. She joined The Times in 2014.

Ruben Vives is a general assignment reporter for the Los Angeles Times. A native of Guatemala, he got his start in journalism by writing for The Times’ Homicide Report in 2007. He helped uncover the financial corruption in the city of Bell that led to criminal charges against eight city officials. The 2010 investigative series won the Pulitzer Prize for public service and other prestigious awards.

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