Clashes between protesters and law enforcement bled into Orange County on Monday, as an anti-immigration rally in Santa Ana grew heated in the evening after a day of reported U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations around the region.
Reports of ICE activity came in from across the city, including outside Home Depot locations, at a business park near Warner Avenue and Garnsey Street and at a commercial area around Broadway and Warner, according to the Orange County Rapid Response Network, a mutual aid group that keeps watch for ICE activity in local communities. In Fountain Valley, agents were reported near a car wash and a fast food restaurant off Magnolia Street and near Fountain Valley Regional Hospital. Additional activity was confirmed in Huntington Beach by the network.
According to network coordinator Sandra De Anda, at least a dozen people were detained outside of a Home Depot on Harbor Boulevard, and community dispatchers logged several others being detained throughout the day.
Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento said immigration officials appeared to have targeted day laborers waiting for work. News of the raids sparked protests Monday at several locations in Santa Ana, including outside Santa Ana City Hall and near the Home Depot.
Ricky Dominguez, 36, of Santa Ana, said he went to the protest near the civic center after work because he had been left “speechless” that ICE was seen detaining people in Santa Ana.
“I saw what was going on with ICE and felt I had to be here,” he said. “They’re here in my backyard.”
Throughout the afternoon, the crowd of protesters grew along Santa Ana Boulevard in front of the federal building. At one point, when protesters tried to block a van from leaving a driveway from the federal building, police intervened to push the crowd back and used pepper spray as a deterrent.
Just before 6 p.m., the demonstration had grown to several hundred people and was at times blocking Santa Ana Boulevard and Civic Center Plaza, the former of which was shut down to traffic with barricades in place. The federal building was guarded by law enforcement members in tactical gear, some had patches that said Homeland Security Investigations or Homeland Security Police.
Dylan Carranca, 23, of Fullerton, said he was standing in front of the agents near the federal building when he saw three tear gas canisters get thrown into the crowd standing in the street.
“We were just standing there. I didn’t see anything get thrown by our side and then all of a sudden we saw three get thrown. One on the right, one in the middle and one on the left. I saw one land and I took off running,” Carranca said, whose eyes had turned red from the gas.
Protesters who had spent the afternoon in Santa Ana said police at first were using pepper bullets, but later switched to rubber bullets.
“Every time we move up, we don’t even do anything, they’re just there and tell us to stay. We get close and they keep trying to get us to get back with tear gas and they start shooting rubber bullets,” said Carla, 22, of Santa Ana, who did not want to give her last name. “It’s a cycle.”
Just before 6:30 p.m., someone from the crowd launched an object toward the agents, which triggered another round of tear gas and the crowd to move back.
After 7 p.m. law enforcement declared the gathering a riot and told people they needed to leave and be off the street or they would be arrested.
Across town, around 100 people gathered peacefully at the intersection of Harbor and MacArthur boulevards around 6:30 p.m. to protest the immigration enforcement actions that took place earlier in the day.
“ICE out of OC,” the protesters chanted, as passing cars honked in support. They held signs that read, “We celebrate sanctuary here” and “No one is illegal.”
Carlos Perea, executive director of the Harbor Institute for Immigrant & Economic Justice, said he hadn’t expected day laborers in Orange County to be targeted so soon, following the recent raids in Los Angeles.
Councilmember David Penaloza, who represents the area around the Home Depot on Edinger, condemned the timing and tactics of the enforcement activity.
“These actions are not about public safety,” he said in a statement. “They are about intimidation and sowing fear among some of the most vulnerable and hardest-working members of our community.”
“No city resources have been or will be used to assist ICE agents in any way,” Penaloza added. “However, if any individuals — whether federal agents or peaceful protesters — resort to violence, Santa Ana police will respond to help maintain public safety.”
The Santa Ana Police Department said in a statement that the department “does not and will not participate in immigration enforcement efforts.”
Sarmiento, who previously served as Santa Ana mayor, visited a Home Depot on Edinger Avenue on Monday morning and said he was told at least six people had been detained there.
“Our day laborers, they’re simply looking for work,” he said in a social media video. “These are people who are not criminals, these are people who are trying to feed their families.”
Councilmember Thai Viet Phan called the day’s events “unconstitutional, horrifying and inhumane,” and pointed to the broader pattern of enforcement she said is targeting immigrant families across Southern California.
“Separating families, raiding schools, invading hospitals and ambushing graduation ceremonies do not constitute public safety,” she said in a statement.
Monday’s events in Orange County follow a weekend of coordinated federal raids in the Los Angeles area. At least 44 people were detained across a handful of sites, and protests have quickly escalated across the area, with large crowds gathering at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown L.A., Paramount and Boyle Heights. Over the weekend, the Trump administration deployed National Guard troops to Los Angeles, a move California officials are now challenging in court.
In Orange County, some residents said they feared enforcement activity may intensify as focus shifts south. At the Magnolia Car Wash in Fountain Valley, the assistant manager said he saw federal agents arrive just before 11 a.m. in unmarked Suburbans, two Ford pickups and one Mercedes-Benz, park in the middle of the lot and begin making arrests inside the business.
“I went up to ask if they needed anything and they didn’t answer. Two of them went straight inside,” he said in Spanish for a Facebook livestream. “I said, ‘These are workers! Are you looking for immigrants or criminals?’ I got closer, and as I did, one of them scratched my face with his fingernail.”
He said ICE detained six or seven of his coworkers and described the scene as chaotic and aggressive.
“It felt like a kidnapping,” he said. “We’re hardworking people here to work, not to steal from this country.”
Victor Valladares, a local activist and former official with the Orange County Democratic Party, livestreamed from the scene and said he believes at least six people were detained.
“What happened here is unjust. People were just working, and they took six of them,” Valladares said in Spanish.
Tracy La, executive director of VietRISE, said her organization is tracking enforcement across Little Saigon. On Monday morning, La said a Border Patrol agent was seen tackling a Latino man near a bus stop in front of the Song Hy Vietnamese supermarket.
“This blatant act of racial profiling and militarized immigration enforcement aggression against our Latino and migrant neighbors took place down the street from VietRISE’s office,” she said in a statement. “Trump’s overtly racist immigration agenda has no place in Orange County. We condemn these unjust attacks by ICE and Border Patrol that are by and large terrorizing Latino communities.”
Law enforcement agencies in Orange County emphasized that while peaceful protest is protected, any violence or vandalism would be prosecuted.
“The Orange County Sheriff’s Department will always defend the First Amendment rights of those who peacefully protest, but criminal activity such as vandalism, destruction of property and assaults will not be tolerated,” Sheriff Don Barnes said in a statement.
District Attorney Todd Spitzer also said his office is monitoring the situation.
“Any evidence of criminal activity, including failure to obey lawful orders to disperse, will be investigated and thoroughly reviewed,” he said in a statement.
Santa Ana Councilmember Phil Bacerra urged protesters to avoid giving federal officials a reason to escalate enforcement.
“Exercise your constitutional right to express yourself peacefully. Do not engage in illegal activity,” he said in a statement. “Vandalism, looting and assaulting law enforcement are neither peaceful nor legal. Show your love for Santa Ana by not giving the federal government any excuse to send the National Guard to the Golden City.”
The total number of people detained in Orange County on Monday has not yet been confirmed. The Orange County Rapid Response Network’s De Anda said her team is still in the process of confirming a number.