Community organizers gathered near the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Santa Maria on Thursday amid reports of increased federal immigration enforcement activity on the Central Coast.
805 UndocuFund and Indivisible held the gathering to protest recent enforcement activity in San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, and Ventura counties.
805 UndocuFund Executive Director Primitiva Hernandez said the organization has seen a spike in activity following reports of an enforcement effort known as “Operation Safe California.”
ICE has declined to confirm or deny details of reported operations, citing operational security and officer safety.
“We are 10 days of this operation with over 150 community members disappeared across the three counties, with Santa Maria being the most impacted city,” Hernandez said.
805 UndocuFund’s rapid response members monitor and document federal immigration enforcement activity in the community. Hernandez said nearly half of the recent calls the organization has received reporting enforcement sightings have come from Santa Maria.
Thursday’s press conference was announced after 805 UndocuFund rapid response team member Alexandria Quintanar said she was detained earlier in the day. The video circulated on social media.
Quintanar, who said she is a U.S. citizen, told KSBY she had dropped off signs to other rapid response members who were protesting. As she left, Quintanar said an agent began following her in a vehicle.
“I'm just a mom exercising my rights. I don't like what I'm seeing in my community, so I'm not going to take it. I'm going to do something about it. I'm going to exercise my constitutional rights,” Quintanar said.
Quintanar said she was detained and taken to the ICE facility in Santa Maria on Thursday. KSBY video later captured her release from the facility.
“Imagine what they go through if they're willing to do this type of stuff to American citizens and people that are simply recording them,” Quintanar said.
KSBY reached out to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to confirm which federal agency detained Quintanar, the circumstances surrounding her detention and whether any charges were filed. KSBY had not received a response as of Thursday evening.
ICE has previously declined to provide details about reported enforcement operations in California, saying it will not disclose or discuss law-enforcement operations for operational-security and officer-safety reasons.
