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ICE's San Diego office made nearly 2,000 arrests in July. Patrols say October is worse.

A reported 45-day pre-election surge has agents in construction vests near job sites, and ICE won't confirm it.

ICE's San Diego office made nearly 2,000 arrests in July. Patrols say October is worse.
Stock photo. Photo by Hakan Toker on Unsplash

Immigration agents are making more arrests across San Diego in the weeks before the Nov. 3 election, according to local reporters, community patrols and immigrant rights groups. Many of the arrests are landing on people at work or on their way to it.

Voice of San Diego reported Monday that ICE's San Diego Field Office made nearly 2,000 arrests in July, citing ICE data obtained by the Deportation Data Project at UC Berkeley and UCLA. That was the office's busiest month of Trump's second term, and community groups say October looks busier.

A 45-day surge nobody will confirm

On Oct. 8, the Washington Examiner reported, citing an anonymous source, that ICE had launched a 45-day statewide push called "Operation Safe California," starting in San Diego. The source said officers were "told to go after anybody," including people with no criminal record, NBC 7 San Diego reported. ICE has not confirmed the operation or its name, and neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security answered NBC 7's or KPBS's requests for comment.

The numbers that can be checked point the same way. Nationally, ICE arrests hit nearly 50,000 in July, the most under this administration, and California passed 4,000, with almost half in the San Diego area, Voice of San Diego reported. inewsource found that San Diego's July total was up about 50% from June, and that about 60% of the people arrested had no criminal conviction or pending charge.

Newer figures don't exist yet because the federal data lags by months. Community-reported sightings fill the gap, with limits: on the volunteer map iceout.org, 28 sightings were flagged across San Diego County on one Friday in October, compared with three on comparable Fridays in July and September, according to Voice of San Diego. Those flags are unverified reports, not arrest counts.

Hard hats, orange vests

The worker angle is hard to miss. Arturo Gonzalez, an activist who has tracked ICE in San Diego for nearly two years, told KPBS that agents have worn orange safety vests at construction sites to blend in and are driving less obvious vehicles. NBC 7 and Telemundo 20 interviewed construction workers about the tactic. Organizers told NBC 7 about an arrest in a home improvement store parking lot off Imperial Avenue and agents near a North Park construction site. KPBS reported a man was picked up in Mira Mesa on his way to work on Oct. 12.

"This is unlike what we've seen all year long," Gonzalez told KPBS.

Families are feeling it at school drop-off too. ICE arrested two parents minutes after they dropped their children off near John Marshall Elementary in September, school officials told EdSource. Sen. Adam Schiff and four San Diego-area House Democrats condemned arrests near schools on Oct. 15. A DHS spokesperson called the event "nothing more than a political stunt" and claimed that "ICE is not going to schools to arrest children—we are protecting children."

San Diego City College student Renatho Casseus, detained by ICE while driving near campus in September, was ordered released by a judge on Friday, Voice of San Diego reported.

"Immigration agents are clearly racially profiling people off the street," said Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee's U.S.-Mexico Border Program, which issued an advisory urging people to know their rights, including the right to stay silent.

Who pays

When agents dress like work crews and wait near job sites and hardware store parking lots, the people who build San Diego's homes and pick up day work become the easiest targets, and a commute becomes a gamble. Gonzalez and immigration attorney Ian Seruelo told KPBS the timing, so close to the election, looks designed to spread fear. Seruelo said "that climate of fear has really intensified."

The reported operation would run into mid-November, past Election Day. ICE patrols have also swept Central Valley communities. If you or your coworkers are worried, read our guide on what to do if ICE comes to your work, and talk to a qualified immigration attorney or nonprofit legal clinic about your own situation.

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