Orange County might see the Marines roll into town following a protest against federal immigration efforts in Downtown Santa Ana – one that saw the California National Guard get deployed to the area late Monday.
“Having the Marines coming to Orange County – for what?” Congressman Lou Correa said at a Tuesday morning news conference. “We don’t need the Marines.”
“I’m hearing that additional resources are being deployed here,” Correa said.
Earlier Tuesday morning, a host of community leaders met with Correa and other elected officials, with Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Amezcua urging activists and community groups to engage in peaceful demonstrations.
“They want us to behave this way so they can call in the National Guard and Marines,” Amezcua said during the early morning meeting. “So they have the Marines on standby, is that correct congressman?”
“Yeah,” Correa responded.
During the Tuesday news conference later in the morning, OC Labor Federation Executive Director Gloria Alvarado said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and Department of Homeland Security officials aren’t just targeting criminals in recent raids – they’re going after working immigrants.
“I wanna tell you how frustrating it is to see that workers are being detained. Workers are not criminals,” Alvarado said, adding that “we are being persecuted.”
Department of Homeland Security officials haven’t answered questions about how they’re conducting the immigration enforcement or details about who they’re targeting.
It comes after federal officials fired pepper balls, tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators outside the federal building in Downtown Santa Ana on Monday, according to a news release from the Santa Ana Police Department.
“The situation has escalated, and what began as a lawful assembly around the Civic Center Plaza, has escalated into objects being thrown towards officers and other members of the public posing a risk to public safety, property, and the well-being of our community,” reads the Monday news release. “In response, federal agents have deployed less-lethal ammunition, including tear gas, pepper balls, and rubber bullets.”
[Read: Orange County Braces For ICE]
As of 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, city spokesman Paul Eakins said city officials did not yet have information regarding any potential arrests, damages or who gave police officers the order to assist federal agents in the protest.
During Tuesday’s news conference, Correa urged federal officials to focus on criminal immigrants – not people like day laborers who’ve reportedly been arrested in front of Home Depots.
“If you got criminals to go after, so be it,” the congressman said. “We don’t deserve these hard-working individuals being deported.”
At the same news conference, Anaheim Police Officers Association President Jose Duran said many of his fellow officers are first-generation Americans, including himself.
“A lot of the issues going on, it does affect the law enforcement community and we’re kind of caught in the middle,” Duran said. “We are deeply concerned about the acts of destruction and threats to law enforcement officers.”
Duran said it’s essential the community engages in “thoughtful dialogue.”
On Tuesday morning, the Ronald Reagan federal courthouse was boarded up with plywood as California National Guardsman restricted traffic by the building. They were also stationed in front of the federal building not far away, which houses an ICE office and other federal departmental offices.
City contracted workers were cleaning off numerous tags of “fuck ice” from street poles, shop windows and a couple near the front entrance of the Ronald Reagan courthouse on Fourth Street.
Shortly after noon on Tuesday, a small contingent of counter demonstrators gathered outside the federal courthouse on Fourth Street and applauded the federal immigration crackdown – drawing some push back from nearby locals.
Chants of “USA” and “self deport” could be heard through a megaphone.
The bishops of the Diocese of Orange issued a statement just after 2 p.m. Tuesday calling for people to remain nonviolent.
“Immigration laws have their place in society, as does enforcement of them, particularly to apprehend known criminals. But there is also a place for enforcement that does not invoke our worst instincts, that does not spread crippling fear and anxieties upon the hard-working, everyday faithful among us,” reads the statement.
“We realize that the calls for mass deportations and raids on undocumented individuals and migrant families have created genuine fear for so many we shepherd in our diocese,” the statement.
“Thoughtful change must come from our country’s leaders in the form of a policy that recognizes boundaries and borders yet also promotes openness for those in search of a better life. It has been far too many decades since meaningful immigration reform has happened in Washington. We cannot wait any longer,” the bishops wrote.
ICE Presence Throughout Orange County
This week’s protests and National Guard deployment comes on the heels of city officials in Santa Ana and Costa Mesa debating whether or not to publicly disclose ICE courtesy calls – essentially a log of notifications from federal agencies that they’ll be conducting some type of investigation in town.
[Read: OC Leaders Face Off Against Whether to Tell Residents How Often ICE is in Town]
In Santa Ana, City Council members like Johnathon Herandez are pushing disclosures.
But some of his colleagues, like Mayor Amezcua, warn that could put them in a tough spot with President Donald Trump’s administration, which has threatened to cut off federal funding to sanctuary cities.
Santa Ana is the only Orange County municipality that’s declared itself a sanctuary city.
According to documents provided by the city last month, the ICE and Department of Homeland Security agents visited numerous places throughout the city 42 times from Jan. 22 to April 26.
In neighboring Costa Mesa, federal officials made 24 visits throughout the city from Jan. 20 to May 20, according to a city council memo from Police Chief Ronald Lawrence dated May 24 obtained by Voice of OC through a public records act request.
He noted that more federal agencies have been directed to conduct federal immigration enforcement since January.
“Since the change in federal administration on January 20, 2025, additional federal agencies (excluding California state or local law enforcement agencies) have been directed to assist ICE in immigration-related enforcement activities,” Lawrence wrote.
At Tuesday’s news conference, Correa also said it’s not just ICE conducting immigration enforcement.
In Anaheim, officials received 40 courtesy calls from federal agencies from late Jan. 22 to May 8.
On Tuesday, Sandra De Anda – executive director of the Orange County Rapid Response Network – said they’re still finalizing the numbers of recent immigration arrests.
De Anda said as many as 16 people could have been arrested by federal officials on Monday.
“It’s really heartbreaking to see this,” De Anda said in a Monday voicemail.
“The last two weeks, we’ve received calls of folks getting arrested at the immigration courthouse on Dyer Road. I myself saw it,” De Anda said. “Ultimately they are separating our families.”
The OC Rapid Response Network and a host of local elected officials are slated to hold a 4 p.m. news conference in front of the Old Orange County Courthouse in Downtown Santa Ana.
Top County Elected Officials React
At Tuesday’s Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting, elected officials publicly gave their thoughts on Monday’s demonstrations and the federal immigration crackdown.
“What we’ve seen or heard is that what happened last night in Santa Ana probably was not peaceful,” Supervisor Janet Nguyen said. “We’re encouraging folks to please not destroy small businesses or the property of the taxpayers.”
Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, who represents Santa Ana and the areas where the Monday protests happened, said he’s concerned federal officials are going after working immigrants.
“We all, I guess, were under the impression that the presence of ICE was going to be to target dangerous, violent criminals. But what we’re seeing, and what I woke up to yesterday, were day laborers looking for work that were being detained, tackled with excessive force by homeland security officers and ICE,” Sarmiento said.
Sarmiento also called for demonstrators to remain peaceful.
“There is no room for violence. But there’s room for passion. And there’s room for speaking loudly about families being separated,” he said.
Supervisor Don Wagner echoed similar concerns and encouraged people to peacefully exercise their First Amendment rights.
““Of course do it without violence,” he said.
“I’m hopeful that cooler heads will prevail today – that our visitors from the National Guard and Marines exercise the appropriate restraint,” Wagner said.
Supervisor Katrina Foley said some people purposely create chaos at the protests.
“We cannot allow people to take advantage of that situation and throw bottles and break windows and vandalize the same community that they are trying to pretend to be there to support,” Foley said. “I don’t like driving down Flower and not being able to turn left on Santa Ana because there’s a military barricade with men with machine guns.”
Supervisors Chairman Doug Chafee also urged people to stay peaceful.
“I’m very concerned about all the unrest we have,” Chaffee said, adding that “many are justifiably outraged” over the federal immigration crackdown.
“We ask you do it in a way that protects everyone’s safety and dignity,” he said.
Meanwhile, Correa said the way federal officials are carrying out immigration enforcement is angering the community
“We don’t need the federal government coming in and stirring up trouble,” Correa said during the Tuesday morning news conference.
The congressman also criticized the presence of the California National Guard in Santa Ana.
“What have we come to? This is not America.”
Spencer Custodio is the civic editor. You can reach him at scustodio@voiceofoc.org. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio.
Julie Leopo and Noah Biesiada contributed to this article.