SALINAS, California — Monterey County Jail in Salinas went into lockdown on the evening of Tuesday, October 27, as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who had been parked outside the jail's release gate for two days faced a protest of about 50 people, and the federal vehicles left the area at around 6:30 p.m. after several hours, the Monterey County Weekly reported.

Source: Monterey County Weekly

The people gathered outside the jail's sallyport gate included legal observers, immigration lawyers, protesters and local politicians, the Weekly reported. Unmarked vehicles were parked in a line in a gravel area by the gate, and some federal officers wore uniforms with “ICE” lettering for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Monterey County Sheriff's Office announced at 5:40 p.m. on October 27 that the jail was on lockdown as a precautionary measure, meaning no inmates were being released while the federal presence continued outside. Reporting on the operation said bookings and releases were suspended during the measure and the jail was closed to public visitors, with attorneys who had scheduled meetings the only members of the public allowed in.

A tense departure toward Constitution Boulevard

The encounter grew more heated toward the end, the Weekly reported: about 30 protesters drew closer to the federal officers' vehicles, and some people grabbed rocks and threw them at the vehicles as they drove away toward Constitution Boulevard. The protest featured honking horns and anti-ICE chants. “ICE is not wanted here. ICE is here to intimidate,” Chris Barrera, president of LULAC Council #2055, told the Weekly.

Legal observers had documented ICE agents parked outside the gate where inmates are released for two days, October 26 and 27, according to the Weekly, and the same pattern has been reported in neighbouring Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.

One person detained leaving a county health clinic

According to the Solidarity Network Monterey County Rapid Response, up to a dozen ICE vehicles were seen in the area — some parked, others patrolling nearby parking lots, including at Natividad Medical Center and county health clinics. The network confirmed that one individual was detained on Tuesday at about 4:30 p.m. while leaving a county health clinic on the government campus next to the jail, the Weekly reported.

About 10 legal observers were present at the jail documenting activity during the Tuesday evening protest, and more than 20 volunteer legal observers had signed up for shifts to document activity near the jail on October 27 and plan to keep monitoring the area for the rest of the week, the network said via local reporting.

County policy and the Fourth Amendment exchange

Monterey County Supervisor Wendy Root Askew engaged in a heated exchange with an ICE agent over the jail's decision to pause inmate releases, according to reporting on the operation. The agent questioned whether delaying the release of people otherwise cleared to leave could infringe their Fourth Amendment rights; Askew pointed to county policy.

In September, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors adopted a directive prohibiting the use of county property as a staging area, processing centre or operational base for civil immigration enforcement. The policy carries specific exceptions for criminal enforcement and for the execution of lawful judicial warrants, but generally restricts local cooperation with federal immigration efforts.

The Monterey County Sheriff's Office had already said on October 26 that it had not been notified in advance of the federal activity near the jail. “Federal law enforcement agencies are not required to notify our office when conducting independent enforcement operations within our jurisdiction,” the Sheriff's Office said in a statement. The office also pointed to California law — the California Values Act (SB 54) and the TRUTH Act — which set the limits on how local agencies may interact with federal immigration authorities.

Seaside detentions came first, on Sunday

The Salinas activity followed detentions in nearby Seaside, where the Rapid Response network reported that two people were detained by ICE on the morning of Sunday, October 25, near Sonoma and Yosemite streets, in an operation involving a black Nissan Murano and a white Dodge Durango. The Seaside Police Department said ICE has been conducting targeted investigations in Seaside and has made several apprehensions, and that its understanding was that the operations involved individuals suspected of federal criminal violations. The names of the people detained have not been confirmed.

Why this matters in the Salinas Valley

Salinas is the Monterey County seat and the centre of one of California's biggest farm-working regions, on the U.S. Highway 101 corridor that carries agricultural freight and commuters through the valley. Enforcement activity around a county jail, a public hospital and county health clinics affects far more people than those detained: families collecting released relatives, patients deciding whether to keep medical appointments, and workers deciding whether to travel. Legal observer Megan Whilden cautioned residents against posting unverified photos, videos or sightings online because, she said, “they can cause panic,” and urged people who need medical care to still go to the hospital. The Rapid Response hotline for reporting suspected enforcement activity in Monterey County is (831) 204-8082.

What happens next

Legal observers say they will remain near the jail for as long as enforcement continues this week. The county's September directive, the sheriff's lockdown decision and the agent's Fourth Amendment question have set up a continuing dispute between Monterey County and federal authorities over where immigration enforcement may operate — a dispute now being watched across the Salinas Valley and in neighbouring counties where similar jail-gate activity has been reported.