Members of Congress from San Diego have formally demanded an explanation from the Department of Homeland Security over a surge in immigration enforcement in the city, including arrests outside schools, according to a letter led by Representative Scott Peters and published on his official House website.
Source: Office of Rep. Scott Peters
The letter, signed by Representatives Juan Vargas, Sara Jacobs and Mike Levin along with Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, says the San Diego Unified School District and San Diego City College both reported multiple ICE arrests outside their schools. The lawmakers wrote that the presence of officers near schools 'destabilizes the sense of safety schools offer' and that parents should be able to drop off and pick up their children without fearing family separation.
Community organisers and local reporting describe the current operation as the largest enforcement increase in the area in nearly two years. KPBS reporting cited by Workers' Rights News said agents have worn orange safety vests at construction sites and used less obvious vehicles, with arrests reported in a home-improvement store parking lot off Imperial Avenue, near a North Park construction site, and of a man picked up in Mira Mesa on his way to work on October 12.
Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee's U.S.-Mexico Border Program, alleged that agents were 'clearly racially profiling people off the street,' according to the same reporting. That is an allegation by an advocacy director, not a court finding. A DHS spokesperson, responding to an earlier congressional condemnation of arrests near schools on October 15, called it 'nothing more than a political stunt' and said, 'ICE is not going to schools to arrest children — we are protecting children.'
Source: Workers' Rights News
Separate reporting by the California Immigrant Policy Center said the statewide operation, reported as 'Operation Safe California,' began in the San Diego area in early October and that partners in the Central Valley and Central Coast have also reported increased arrests, including dozens of people in Fresno and Madera counties, most at traffic stops. Federal officials have not publicly confirmed the operation's name or a statewide arrest total.
The congressional letter asks DHS to explain enforcement at sensitive locations including schools, hospitals, places of worship and courthouses. DHS has said ICE does not discuss operations for security reasons and that it enforces the law across the country, including in California.