Federal immigration agents used a Taser on a man they pursued on foot after he was released from the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas on the night of Wednesday, October 28, 2026, according to observers with the Santa Clara County Rapid Response Network — an incident local advocates say is the first they are aware of in the county involving ICE agents using a Taser. The confrontation, reported in detail by San José Spotlight on October 30-31, comes as advocates say 10 to 12 ICE agents have been seen every day for the past week staging inside the lobbies, in parking lots and around the offices of Elmwood and the Main Jail in San Jose, despite the county's ICE-free zones policy.
Source: San José Spotlight
On Wednesday at about 10 p.m., Rapid Response Network volunteers confirmed ICE agents pursued a car leaving Elmwood carrying two men just released from jail. Agents pursued the men on foot after they ran from the car and used a Taser on one of them, according to an observer on the scene. Video from the incident shows the man slumped on the ground, with an agent holding him up by his upper body. He was transported to Regional Medical Center in East San Jose and was released later that morning, according to observers, and left without further incident. The man has not been named in the reporting used for this story.
A county policy that stops at the lobby door
Last October, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to establish ICE-free zones on county property, including raising physical barriers and locking gates to prevent federal agents from unlawfully using county properties for surveillance and arrests. District 1 Supervisor Sylvia Arenas, who spearheaded the policy, told San José Spotlight the law applies to property not accessible to the public, such as staff parking lots — but the jail lobby and public parking lots do not fall under it in the same way. When she learned ICE was using staff parking lots, she contacted the Sheriff's Office, which forced them to move, she said.
Brooks Jarosz, spokesperson for the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, said the department cannot interfere with another law enforcement agency despite the ICE-free zones. 'ICE agents, like any member of the public, may legally be present in publicly accessible areas of our facilities,' Jarosz told San José Spotlight. That position matches the Sheriff's Office's own public update a week earlier, on October 22-23, when it said agents had made no arrests at Elmwood that Thursday, stayed in areas open to the public, and that the county does not coordinate with ICE, does not share release dates, and does not enforce civil immigration detainers — while noting ICE has periodically visited the jail lobby for more than a year and had then taken 60 people into custody on release, a figure since updated to about 70.
Source: San Francisco Focal / Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office update
County Executive James Williams did not answer questions about why ICE is allowed on county property or what officials will do to enforce their policies, but told San José Spotlight: 'The county continues to uphold its longstanding non-cooperation policies regarding federal civil immigration enforcement. We cannot and will not cooperate with or assist ICE in its enforcement operations.' California's Values Act, known as SB 54, and county policy generally bar county employees from assisting federal civil immigration enforcement, including by sharing release dates, the Sheriff's Office has said.
Advocates: 'the ICE-free zones don't mean anything'
'In San Jose, we haven't seen the most aggressive behaviour, the deadliest behaviour, but this is an escalation,' Liz Gonzalez, an organizer with the law-enforcement watchdog Silicon Valley De-Bug who was present the night of the arrest, told San José Spotlight. 'Anything could have happened that night, and honestly, I thought that person was dead.' Raj Jayadev, co-founder of Silicon Valley De-Bug, was blunter about the policy: 'Their ICE free-zones (don't) mean anything. It's just a complete fantasy to score political points (and) has no application.' Jayadev wants the county to enforce its zones as Monterey County has.
Arenas herself voiced concern about the Taser. 'I'm very concerned that a Taser had to be utilized in this apprehension, and I really hope that this is not a new standard for the ICE agents in our area,' she told San José Spotlight. She said she would consult local law enforcement and county counsel to see whether other policies can be implemented to protect the community.
The Monterey contrast — a lockdown Santa Clara will not copy, for now
When ICE agents came to the Monterey County Jail on Tuesday — the same week — officials there announced a lockdown prohibiting visitors from coming inside and incarcerated people from being released. Protesters circled the federal agents, who left not long after, and Monterey County lifted the lockdown hours later. Jarosz said Santa Clara County does not plan to lock down its jails, but sheriff's officials are reviewing security measures. Arenas called the lockdown 'creative, it's interesting, it's different,' while questioning its ramifications: agents could simply stay, she noted, and a standoff could create a more hostile environment.
Rebeca Armendariz, a legal observer for the Rapid Response Network, which documents ICE activity and provides emergency legal aid, said calls to the network's hotline have surged in recent weeks. While the mass enforcement deployments seen in Los Angeles and Minneapolis have not occurred in Santa Clara County, the region is one of the most impacted areas for targeted ICE operations, according to the Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network, cited by San José Spotlight. Armendariz alleged — presented here as her allegation — that agents appear to be racially profiling people they see, and said some agents have stopped even Latino county employees wearing badges.
Santa Clara County is home to San Jose and Milpitas and to large immigrant communities, including Punjabi families across the South Bay and Silicon Valley. When agents stage daily at the two places where people are released from custody, the practical question for families picking up a loved one is not the wording of a policy — it is whether the lobby and the public parking lot are covered by it. On the county's own current reading, they largely are not.
What happens next
No ICE statement on the October 28 Taser incident is included in the reporting used for this story, and ICE had not responded to a request for comment in the earlier October 26 reporting on agents at the Main Jail either. The next steps to watch are whether the Sheriff's Office's security review changes how public areas at Elmwood and the Main Jail are managed, whether Arenas and county counsel propose a policy that reaches lobbies and public lots, whether the Board of Supervisors takes the issue up publicly — advocates say supervisors sent no representation when notified during the October 23 presence at Elmwood — and whether the Rapid Response Network documents further Taser or force incidents. For now, the county says it will not lock down the jails, and advocates say they will keep showing up with legal observers every day agents are present.