When off-duty ICE agents called Santa Ana Police for assistance last month – a call that led to the arrest of two immigrant advocates – they questioned whether local law enforcement in OC’s only Sanctuary City would help.
“So you guys aren’t willing to cooperate?” asked an ICE agent, according to a rough transcript of a 911 call released by the city.
“I never said that,” responded the Santa Ana Police Dispatcher, according to the transcript. “A call for service has been entered. I got it approved by my watch commander. I never once said I was not going to assist.”
That call last month resulted in the arrest of Santa Ana residents Madison Crabill and Adilene Tonoco on Oct. 14 for resisting a peace officer, stalking and criminal conspiracy – sparking renewed scrutiny over how cooperative local law enforcement in OC’s only sanctuary city is with federal immigration agents.
Police leaders have repeatedly said the department does not cooperate with federal agents on immigration enforcement.
California state law also largely blocks law enforcement officials from working with federal agencies on immigration enforcement.
On Thursday, police oversight commissioners had an opportunity to publicly question police officials on why they responded to the call from the ICE agents and arrest the advocates and called for an investigation into the incident.
The city’s own legal analysis and the District Attorney’s office concluded there wasn’t evidence to charge Crabill and Tonoco for any crimes.
“There is no evidence proving the Suspects had any intent other than to follow the officers so they could let the community known of their presence,” reads a communication from the OC District Attorney’s office to Santa Ana Police. “There is no evidence of past violence, weapons, or other indication these females could be a reasonable threat to trained, armed ICE agents.”
Yet, Santa Ana police officials said in a statement to Voice of OC a day after the arrest the pair blocked the agents’ car and that they “expressed concerns for their safety.” The police report reflects similar language.
But the transcript shows the agents laughing during the call and even complimenting the music the observers were playing.
“I’m not scared. We’re stopping. She’s been doing this for days and days and days and there has to be something,” one of the agents said after the police dispatcher directed them to the police station.
Agents also said the observers ran red lights and actively tried to block them. They also said they had recognized the ICE observers from previous federal operations in La Habra that same day and described the observers as “obnoxious,” “agitators” and flipping them off in the 911 call.
Crabill noted discrepancies in the 911 transcript and police report and said she was disturbed by the interaction between ICE and local police dispatchers.
“The call log of the phone call between the agents and SAPD demonstrates that at no point did the agents fear for their safety,” she said at the meeting.
“Despite the agent’s direct admission that he did not feel threatened by us, his frequent jokes and the bounce of laughter heard on the call, the police report states that the ICE agents were instructed to drive to the SAPD station due to concerns for their safety.”
Crabill also said she was arrested around the time she needed to take an insulin shot and had to be taken to a hospital.
Deputy Chief Roland Andrade said the department is reviewing the incident and reassessing their procedures based on what occurred.
“On behalf of the chief of police and the entire police department, this is to all the speakers. We hear you loud and clear. I can assure you, the department has processes in place to review your allegations very thoroughly and come to a conclusion,” he said at the meeting.
“Since this incident, we’ve had lengthy conversations and training and reiteration on when do we assist, when don’t we assist, and what does that look like. And very simply, establish some guidelines for our personnel so they know our expectations of them.”
Police Chief Robert Rodriguez did not respond to emailed questions Friday morning.
Police Oversight Commissioners Weigh In
Commissioner Amalia Mejia questioned the discrepancies between the police report and 911 call and successfully called for the independent oversight director to conduct an investigation into the arrests and the report.
“There is no sense of urgency. The officers also don’t state that they feel a threat, and so again, the mismatch of the actual crime report and the 911 dispatcher are completely opposites,” she said at the meeting.
Andrade acknowledged the police report needed to be clearer and noted officers who responded to the scene did not hear the phone call prior and responded based on information passed on from the watch commander.
Commissioner Carlos Perea said he was disappointed Rodriguez did not attend the meeting and that his decision to press charges didn’t make sense.
“The district attorney is making it clear as to why they’re rejecting this case, and the transcripts provide further information that caused that into question, and even our own legal analysis that was done by the city attorney is very much rejecting every single reason why our department continued to press charges on these individuals,” Perea said.
Andrade defended Rodriguez saying the chief himself is an immigrant, who advocated for the DACA program in Washington D.C.
The deputy chief also said when they receive future calls from federal immigration agents they would determine whether to respond by assessing if there were any threats to life.
“I can’t sit here and say we’re never going to go, and I can’t sit here and say we’re always going to go because there’s times where we won’t go. But we have to evaluate each case on its own merits because it is not in the benefit of the city of Santa Ana or the residents for anybody to get hurt on either side of this situation,” Andrade said.
Commission Chair Keith Carpenter said it shouldn’t matter who calls the police for help.
“It’s a call for service. I don’t give a damn who it is,” Carpenter said. “As a society, I don’t think it’s advisable to put one category of people in response compared to the regular citizenry, and again, so yeah, that’s that’s just I think I think it’s you’re heading down a slippery slope when you start to separate people into categories and how you want to respond, and I think that’s not a not a wise decision.”
Sanctuary: Santa Ana Police & Federal Agents
While Police officials have repeatedly contended they follow the state law that bars them from assisting federal immigration enforcement, it’s not the first time Santa Ana Police Officers have responded to a request for help from federal agents.
Earlier this year, Santa Ana police and city executives publicly said they accepted federal calls for assistance at the ICE protests in June 2025, for fear of federal officers bringing out their own reinforcements to deal with protesters.
At those protests, police officers fired hundreds of rounds of bean bags, rubber bullets and threw tear gas at ICE demonstrators over four days – costing the city nearly $400,000.
Mayor-elect Dan Shimell said the police department believes ICE is entitled to trust.
“They need to be disabused of that notion very quickly,” he said in an interview this week. “I intend to lead on that.”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org.
