Federal immigration officials have been showing up in parts of Orange County in recent months, with recently released records showing activity near the Happiest Place on Earth, along with activity near Little Saigon.
From late January to early May, Anaheim – home to Disneyland and a majority Latino population – has seen more than 40 courtesy calls from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security.
The calls typically tell local law enforcement agencies when federal agents will be visiting a certain part of town, but often offer few details beyond that.
In Garden Grove, which sits next to Little Saigon, those same agencies gave the police department over 20 courtesy calls. The city has a large Asian population and a sizable Latino population.
In nearby Santa Ana, 42 courtesy calls have been made public by city officials in response to a public record request.
The recent disclosures have prompted local activists to call on local elected officials to release data about federal immigration enforcement efforts.
Federal immigration officials aren’t responding to requests for comments but local activists and officials are increasingly asking questions of their own.
Sandra De Anda, program coordinator for the OC Rapid Response Network, said this year they’ve seen the most deportations in roughly the past decade.
“The deportation machine is alive and well, and it’s expanding,” she said in a phone interview.
De Anda also said she’s getting reports of ICE arrests all over Orange County.
“Any possible way there is to try to arrest someone they are doing it,” she said.
More transparency on ICE activity, De Anda said, is critical so local residents can make informed decisions.
“We have historically used them during moments of heightened fear to figure out where in the community folks are being targeted and how and by who,” she said about courtesy calls.
Local elected officials, meanwhile, have largely stayed quiet on whether they think cities should proactively disclose federal immigration enforcement activity – something that city council members in nearby Santa Ana are currently mulling over.
[Read: Will Santa Ana Alert Residents of ICE Activity Amid Federal Immigration Crackdown?]
Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken and the rest of the city council did not respond to requests for comment on the issue last week. However, city spokesman Mike Lyster, said the Voice of OC inquires made his way to him – prompting him to issue a city response.
Lyster said the courtesy calls the city receive are to limit misunderstandings between the agencies and the local police department and that officials do not know the details of the incidents.
“Based on what has been shared nationally, these are likely specific, focused investigations and not random, sweeping operations,” he wrote in a Thursday email.
Lyster also said Anaheim won’t disclose when another law enforcement agency is operating in the city because of safety concerns and to not impede another agency’s investigation.
“Investigations may take Anaheim Police into other cities, and we want the same respect for an investigation our police may be pursuing,” Lyster wrote.
“Sharing that federal immigration enforcement may be in Anaheim could also have an unintended consequence of bringing more enforcement to our city.”
The issue is playing out as federal agents in plain clothes and masks arrested people at immigration court in Santa Ana last Wednesday.
Santa Ana leaders are publicly debating whether disclosing such activity – something they have already done in a public records request – could result in a loss of federal funding and put law enforcement officers at risk.
[Read: Santa Ana Officials to Assess Risks of Publicly Disclosing ICE Activity in the City]
At least two city council members in neighboring Costa Mesa are calling for staff to update them on immigration enforcement operations in town.
At the May 20 meeting, Costa Mesa City Councilwoman Andrea Marr called on Police Chief Ronald Lawerence as well as the acting city manager to provide an update on Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in Costa Mesa.
“There’s been a lot of talk in Santa Ana about the number of contacts that Santa Ana PD is having with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. I was wondering if we could get an update in terms of what we’re seeing here in Costa Mesa,” Marr said.
“I think there was a quiet period, and then in the last couple of weeks, I’ve been hearing a lot more about ICE being very active on the streets of the city, so it would be helpful to understand where we stand right now.”
Marr did not respond to a request for comment last week.
Costa Mesa Councilman Manuel Chavez echoed her remarks at the meeting.
“I’m not sure to what capacity we have that information, because that is a federal agency and not a local one, but any update would be helpful for folks to have questions,” he said at the May 20 meeting.
In a phone interview last week, Chavez echoed concerns made by Santa Ana leaders about the impacts of disclosing the calls publicly.
He said the update “doesn’t need to be a public one,” but could be a memo to council members updating officials on ICE activity.
“It’s important to be cautious and careful with this administration that clearly shows it likes to pick out targets. At this moment, I am interested in seeing what information PD can provide, and then seeing how we disseminate that,” Chavez said.
“It’s important when balancing and navigating these difficult conversations that whatever information we share or do not share does not put the city in any risk of losing federal funding, put us in any risk of being a target for any federal actions, and more importantly, doesn’t create fear in the community,” he said.
It all comes as President Donald Trump’s administration is eying sanctuary cities and states – issuing a host of threats, including arresting elected officials or attempting to withhold critical federal funding for not cooperating with federal immigration efforts.
On Thursday, Huntington Beach landed on Trump’s sanctuary city target list issued by the Department of Homeland Security despite Surf City officials voting earlier this year to direct police disregard sanctuary state law and work with ICE agents
[Read: How Did OC’s Most MAGA City Council End Up on Trump’s Sanctuary City List?]
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli’s office announced last month the launch of Operation Guardian Angel – a program aimed at side stepping California’s sanctuary state law by issuing federal arrest warrants for undocumented immigrants in county jails.
“The operation will file complaints and arrest warrants to allow federal law enforcement to take as many defendants as possible into custody from state jails,” reads a May 19 news release.
California’s Sanctuary State law bars local law enforcement from honoring ICE detainer requests unless that person’s been convicted of a violent or serious felony.
The detainer asks law enforcement officials to notify ICE if an undocumented person is about to be released from jail and could include a 48-hour hold.
Essayli’s program side steps those detainer requests and instead gets federal warrants – effectively bypassing state law.
Arrests at Immigration Court in Santa Ana
Last week, federal agents dressed in plain clothes arrested and detained people at immigration court in Santa Ana – a new practice that has been taking place at court houses across the country.
De Anda said she and other ICE watchers from the network witnessed 10 people – including children – get detained and arrested at the courthouse last Wednesday.
She said to the best of her knowledge the people detained did not have a criminal record and were new arrivals to the United States.
“Many of them shared that they were applying for asylum,” she said. “It’s easy pickings for ICE because a lot of these individuals are so new to the country, many of them only have themselves.”
“Undocumented community members and folks seeking asylum can’t win,” De Anda said.
Judges in immigration courts adjudicate cases related to a person’s immigration status, deportation and asylum requests.
De Anda said she asked the federal agents which agency they were from and for badge numbers and they wouldn’t tell her – a trend activists throughout the country have noted in recent months.
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.
In a video posted on social media Wednesday, OC Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento said in Spanish that people had been arrested at their immigration hearings at the Santa Ana courthouse and urged residents to bring their lawyers with them for their check ins.
According to the supervisor’s post, ICE was the agency that made the arrests.
De Anda said the courthouse arrests put a tough choice in front of immigrants.
“You either don’t go to your immigration hearing and are given a deportation order, or you do go and then you risk getting detained at an immigration court,” she said.
ICE Disclosures in Orange County
At the Santa Ana City Council meeting on May 20, Mayor Valerie Amezcua questioned if other OC cities were moving forward with a policy to notify residents of ICE courtesy calls – something Councilmembers Johnathan Hernandez and Ben Vazquez are requesting to implement in their town.
“There are no cities, Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Orange, anybody around us that is doing what maybe you have been asked to do? Is that correct?” she asked at the May 20 meeting.
“That’s correct,” Police Chief Robert Rodriguez said.
“Nobody’s releasing information?” Amezcua said.
“No,” Rodriguez said.
Yet a Voice of OC review found two other police departments have disclosed similar calls through a public records request.
Public records obtained and reviewed by the Voice of OC show that ICE and the Department of Homeland Security have made courtesy calls and notified the Anaheim and Garden Grove police departments of enforcement actions between January and May.
The disclosures come after city records released to Inadvertent and later the Voice of OC showed that ICE and Homeland Security had visited various parts of Santa Ana despite top city executives there denying immigration enforcement activity in town.
[Read: Have Santa Ana’s Police Chief & City Manager Been Up Front With Residents About ICE Activity?]
From January 22 to April 26, the city has received 42 notifications from federal agents, according to records reviewed by Voice of OC.
According to records reviewed by Voice of OC, Anaheim Police Department received over 46 courtesy calls from ICE, Department of Homeland Security and Homeland Security Investigations between Jan. 24 and May 8.
The data does not differentiate ICE and Homeland Security calls and describes almost all of the call types as “surveillance.”
Lyster said Anaheim police are not involved in enforcing immigration law but federal law enforcement can still operate in the city.
“We ask that any federal immigration enforcement in Anaheim be fair, reasonable and lawful with a focus on making our community safer,” Lyster wrote.
He also encouraged immigrants to go about their daily lives with caution and awareness.
“Be careful about what you hear and do your best to separate rumors from what’s really going on,” he wrote.
“We encourage everyone to learn about immigration enforcement, whether it’s administrative or judicial, and what to do if you find yourself in either situation.”
Garden Grove Police Department acknowledged receiving 25 courtesy calls from ICE, Department of Homeland Security and Homeland Security Investigations between Jan. 26 and May 5, according to records reviewed by Voice of OC.
The data does not differentiate ICE and Homeland Security calls nor describes what the agents were calling about.
Mayor Stephanie Klopfenstein and the rest of the Garden Grove City Council did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.
Voice of OC also requested the same data from the Westminster Police Department, but according to an email from the city clerk’s there was no “responsive records” pertaining to that request.
Indigo Vu, the immigration advocacy manager at the local advocacy group, VietRise, said they haven’t verified any ICE activity in Westminster, but they know of two Westminster residents who have been detained in Santa Ana amid their ICE check ins.
Vu said ICE has changed the way it operates when it comes to Vietnamese immigrants.
“ICE has changed a lot of their procedures for working with the Vietnamese community, many of whom were used to routine annual check ins for between 7-25 years,” they said.
“They had been just checking in every year and then just returning the next year. And these community members are now being arrested by ICE, including people who have been in the U.S. for 30 or 50 years even.”
Vu said one of the Vietnamese immigrants detained was deported to Vietnam even though he never lived there and was born in a refugee camp outside the Southeast Asian country.
“The lack of transparency that ICE is moving forward with their procedures, is fueling anxiety, and it’s underscoring an urgent need for policies that ensure greater transparency for our entire community,” they said.
Vu also noted that 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, which ended the Vietnam War.
The collapse of South Vietnam saw many Vietnamese refugees come to this country for a new home in the years since.
“The increased attention and deportation of our community members is a double punishment. All of these people have already served their time, and they deserve a second chance to live the lives that they’ve built here in Little Saigon,” Vu said.
Tracking ICE Activity in Orange County
Roberto Herrera, co-founder of the OC Rapid Response Network, said they get the most calls for ICE activity verification from Santa Ana, followed by Costa Mesa.
During Trump’s first term, Herrera filed a public records request asking about how the Santa Ana Police Department is made aware of federal immigration arrests and how often the department receives request for assistance from Homeland Security.
Herrera said the network shared his previous public record request with Inadvertent who then filed public records requests for courtesy calls to both Santa Ana and Costa Mesa during President Donald Trump’s first hundred days in office this year.
“Costa Mesa currently has denied any sort of courtesy calls,” he said in a phone interview. “I know that it’s not true because I communicate with the council members about verifying.”
Herrera adds there have been public arrests in the city.
He said its important cities disclose immigration related courtesy calls to allow advocates to get a better understanding of how federal immigration officials operate and the extent of their operations.
“I think one of the things that may be happening is that the council may be unaware of the extent that immigration is making arrests or is in our communities,” Herrera said.
“Being able to understand those trends helps to convince the council that, ‘hey, immigration is in our communities, and we need to be able to do something about that.’”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.