SAN FRANCISCO, California — Over the past week and a half, at least two immigration arrests in the Bay Area have ended with the person detained in a hospital, and the public account has come mostly from lawyers, advocates and court filings on behalf of the people arrested, while the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has given a sharply different account, a San Francisco Inquirer investigation published on Saturday, October 24, found. The Inquirer said it reviewed a federal court order, statements from DHS and Alameda County officials, and reporting by local news outlets; the accounts of force are allegations, none has been tested at a hearing, and in the one case that reached federal court the government's response is not due until Monday, October 26.
Source: San Francisco Inquirer, Oct. 24, 2026
The most fully documented case is in federal court. According to an October 20 order by U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, reciting the allegations in a habeas corpus petition filed on October 19, the man is 40, was born in Mexico, came to the United States in September 2002 at age 16, works as a truck driver and has significant family and community ties in Northern California. In 2018, the San Francisco Immigration Court granted him withholding of removal. The petition says that on October 17 he was driving home to Oakland when six agents surrounded his parked car, an agent broke the driver's side window with a hammer, agents tried to pull him through the broken window and used a baton, and he was then taken to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital due to injuries sustained during his arrest, according to the filing summarized in the order.
Source: San Francisco Inquirer, Oct. 24, 2026
The judge found the man was likely to succeed on his claim that his detention violated his Fifth Amendment due-process rights, writing that he was entitled to a bond hearing before an immigration judge prior to any arrest or detention, and noting the government had not sought to detain him in the years since he was granted withholding of removal. She ordered his immediate release, barred the government from re-detaining him without notice and a hearing, and barred moving him out of the district. A hearing on a longer injunction is set for November 2. The ruling rests on the due-process question, not on the force allegations; the court made no finding about how the arrest was carried out, and DHS did not address this case specifically in its statement to the Inquirer. The man is not being named; a county legal aid partnership said the people injured in recent Alameda County arrests asked for their privacy to be respected.
Source: San Francisco Inquirer, Oct. 24, 2026
In the second case, the Alameda County Immigration Legal and Education Partnership said in a statement that a person arrested in Emeryville was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland with injuries appearing to be caused during the arrest, and that federal agents appear to have used excessive force. A DHS spokesperson confirmed the arrest to The Oaklandside, as reported by the Inquirer, saying ICE arrested a man from Honduras during a targeted enforcement operation and denying that agents used excessive force: the spokesperson said he attempted to assault officers and refused their lawful commands, that officers relied on their training, and that he disclosed a preexisting injury from falling from a ladder two days prior. Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas said at a news conference on Friday that the man was discharged into ICE custody late Thursday and that the arrest resulted in six days of hospital care, according to The Oaklandside reporting cited by the Inquirer.
Source: San Francisco Inquirer, Oct. 24, 2026
Separately, Nikolas De Bremaeker, a lawyer with Centro Legal de la Raza in Oakland, told Mission Local that he represents an Oakland resident hospitalized at Highland after he was tackled and had six ribs fractured, the Inquirer reported — while noting it did not make clear whether that client is the man arrested in Emeryville, and that it could not independently verify the account. Local reporting summarized by Focal News said attorneys described at least six immigration arrests across the Bay Area in one week in court filings and interviews, including the Oakland truck driver case and a Sonoma County case, and said agents appear to be making more arrests at homes, car stops and workplaces. DHS said in its statement to the Inquirer: “ICE law enforcement officers are trained to use the minimum amount of force necessary to resolve dangerous situations,” and said there are no quotas on arrests.
Source: Focal News (Bay Area attorneys / Mission Local reporting), Oct. 2026