Federal immigration raids are now going deep into Orange County neighborhoods – apparently expanding beyond Home Depots and car washes.
On Father’s Day morning, federal agents detained a local man in Santa Ana’s Artesia Pilar neighborhood around 10:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Local residents, who witnessed the detainment, told Voice of OC it happened in about eight minutes – noting the man was a longtime resident of the area who collected cans and bottles for recycling on Sundays.
A neighbor recorded the arrest on their phone, which was shared with Voice of OC, and shows at least three masked federal agents detaining the man while one resident could be heard saying “how dare you take him.”
The man’s cart that he collects his recyclables in was left curbside on Raitt Street.
Santa Ana Councilman Johnathan Hernandez, who lives right down the street from where it happened near El Salvador Park, was telling neighbors in Spanish to look out for federal immigration authorities.
“Trucha, La Migra,” Hernandez said to numerous people out for walks late Sunday morning.
Hernandez was also handing numerous people red cards that explain people’s rights in Spanish.
“On Fathers Day, these scumbags are out here,” he said in an interview shortly after 11 a.m. “This is the first case that they’re in a neighborhood in Santa Ana.”
Santa Ana’s home to roughly 316,000 residents – 77% of whom are Latino, according to the US Census Bureau. Just over 40% of Santa Ana residents are foreign born.
Nearby El Salvador Park was almost empty after Hernandez and other residents were warning people that federal immigration officials just arrested a man nearby.
“It’s nasty right now,” the councilman said.
Rafael Solorzano, a University of Florida professor of Latin American Studies who’s in town for the summer, saw the arrest and said “they racially profiled” the man.
Solorzano, who grew up in Santa Ana and is visiting his mother who lives nearby, said the immigration sweeps are striking fear in the community.
“What if you’re just walking down the street. What if you’re at the park playing with your kids?”
Meanwhile, numerous people approached Hernandez late Sunday morning asking how they could help.
Hernandez advised them to go warn others in the community.
The Sunday arrest comes after thousands of Orange County residents took to the streets on Saturday to protest the recent string of ICE arrests.
[Read: Orange County Hits the Streets, Rails Against ICE Sweeps]
Community leaders have told Voice of OC that dozens of people were arrested at their immigration check-ins.
OC Rapid Response Network program coordinator Sandra De Anda said at least 50 Orange County residents have been caught up in the sweeps as of Thursday.
De Anda said federal agents have been targeting Home Depots, car washes and other public places.
In a Thursday social media post, Anaheim officials said federal agents were spotted in Pearson Park.
That same day, Irvine officials publicly announced there was a planned immigration raid and didn’t have any more details.
[Read: Orange County ICE Raids Expand into Irvine]
Department of Homeland Security officials have yet to respond to questions about how they’re targeting people in the immigration sweeps.
Meanwhile, residents continue protesting the recent immigration sweeps.
“They’re not coming for criminals. They’re coming for the people who keep your streets clean, the people who put the food on your table – these aren’t bad people,” Hernandez said. “And that’s my point to these fuckers.”
Solorzano said it falls on the community to protect itself – something that he says the recent protests are spurring people to do.
“We are going to save ourselves, we are going to save the neighbor. Not the mayor, not a city council member. We have to start thinking like that – like during the pandemic.”
Spencer Custodio is the civic editor. You can reach him at scustodio@voiceofoc.org. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio.