Santa Ana Police arrest two ICE watchers in OC's only sanctuary city
Two women monitoring ICE agents were arrested in Santa Ana on stalking charges, drawing criticism from elected officials and immigrant advocates.
Sanctuary city arrests spark protests in Santa Ana
The Santa Ana Police Department arrested two female "ICE watchers" on Wednesday afternoon after receiving a request for assistance from two off-duty federal agents who said they were being followed, ocregister.com reports. The arrests have triggered sharp criticism from elected officials and immigrant rights advocates in what is Orange County's only official sanctuary city.
The two women, aged 25 and 33, were detained around 1:30 p.m. on 14 October in front of the SAPD station. They were arrested on suspicion of stalking, criminal conspiracy and resisting or obstructing a peace officer, pending further investigation, according to SAPD spokesperson Officer Natalie Garcia.
Police said the off-duty federal agents reported that multiple individuals in a vehicle had followed them after they left a federal building in Santa Ana. Officers responded to the scene, Garcia said, "based on the investigation and the agents' desire for prosecution." Federal agents alleged the women blocked their vehicle in an alley, ran two red lights to maintain contact with their car, then parked directly behind the agents at the police station and used a megaphone to shout obscenities at them.
As of Thursday afternoon, the Orange County District Attorney's Office had not filed charges. The women remained booked in Orange County Jail.
Officials call the arrests a violation of sanctuary principles
Immigrant rights advocates and several elected officials held a press conference outside the police station Thursday afternoon to demand the women's release. Councilmember Jesse Lopez and Second District OC Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento were among those who attended.
Lopez questioned the city's political will to enforce its sanctuary commitments. "How many more times do we need to say from the dais that we don't want our public resources being used in this disgusting way against our constituents?" she said. She also challenged the police department's claim that the off-duty agents felt threatened. "The men weren't scared," Lopez said, noting the agents were armed while the observers were not. "They're on video flexing, laughing. Are they so afraid they're having a good time?"
Sarmiento said it is not immediately clear that the arrests themselves violate the sanctuary ordinance, since stalking constitutes a penal code offence rather than a federal immigration charge. However, the sanctuary law broadly prohibits local police from facilitating or sharing information with federal agents. "Here, obviously, it appears there is facilitation in the apprehension of the legal observers," Sarmiento said. "And it's sent a chilling effect to other legal observers who are trying to protect their own communities but are now fearful of their own safety."
An organiser with the OC Community Self-Defense Coalition said continued cooperation with federal agents amounts to a clear violation of sanctuary policy.
Attorney says ICE watching is constitutionally protected
Sean Garcia-Leys, an attorney representing the two women, said ICE watching is a constitutionally protected activity, the purpose of which is to observe federal enforcement operations and alert the community. Merely following federal agents does not constitute criminal stalking, Garcia-Leys said, unless the agents can demonstrate a "credible threat" or "intent to harm" on the part of the observers.
Authorities said the federal agents reported recognising the women from two previous federal operations in La Habra, though it was not immediately clear whether those encounters occurred on the same day. Details about which federal agency the off-duty officers worked for and the circumstances of their operations were not made available.
The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement Thursday declining to elaborate on the incident. "For operational security and the safety of our officers, ICE never discloses or discusses law enforcement operations," DHS said. "Under President Donald Trump and Secretary Markwayne Mullin, if you break the law, you will face the consequences. Illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S." DHS deferred additional questions to the Santa Ana Police Department.
Around two dozen protesters attended Thursday's press conference, holding signs reading "ICE Out" and "legal observing is not a crime."
Santa Ana's elected leaders had previously committed the city to not assisting federal agencies with Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions. Critics say Wednesday's arrests contradict that promise directly.
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)