October 14, 2026
Los Angeles, Calif. (Oct. 14, 2026) — The California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC) today condemned a wave of indiscriminate immigration arrests that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reportedly launched across California without public announcement. According to news reports, the operation, which ICE has reportedly named “Operation Safe California,” began in the San Diego area earlier this month, will last at least 45 days, and directs federal agents to arrest anyone they believe lacks immigration status.
CIPC has heard from partners in the Central Valley, the Central Coast, and San Diego about increased arrests. In Fresno and Madera counties, dozens of people have been arrested since early October, most of them at traffic stops, according to the Fresno Bee and local rapid response groups. One of the people arrested was Luis Arreguin, a father who has lived in Fresno since age 5. He was pulled over on his way to work on Oct. 1 and taken into ICE custody.
In Santa Maria, Allan Hancock College officials confirmed that federal immigration officers detained a student’s father in a campus parking lot on Oct. 5 as he dropped his daughter off at school.
Communities are answering with collective action. In Fresno, more than 350 people packed a community meeting on Oct. 11 to organize rapid response, know-your-rights education, voter protection, and emergency support for families whose loved ones have been separated and detained by ICE.
“Every family in California should be able to drop their kids at school, show up for work, and go to their place of worship without fear of being racially profiled and taken by federal agents from the people they love,” said Sukaina Hussain, Deputy Executive Director of the California Immigrant Policy Center. “What our partners are describing is not public safety. It is fear by quota.”
“The mass immigration raids are coming just weeks before a highly contested election. When parents are being detained on their way to work and while dropping their kids off at school weeks before Election Day, that is not a coincidence. Our communities will not be intimidated,” Hussain said. “California has made a choice: our state and local resources go to keeping all of us safe, not to tearing families apart. We call on state and local leaders, from Sacramento to Fresno City Hall, to hold that line and stand with the communities being targeted right now.”
Anyone who witnesses or is affected by immigration enforcement activity can contact their local rapid response network hotline or find know-your-rights information on our website.
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