ICE Operation Outside Monterey County Jail in Salinas, California Draws Protesters: Jail Locked Down on October 27, Officials Say Five Arrested
On October 27, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents carried out an operation outside the Monterey County Jail in Salinas, Monterey County, California, where about 50 protesters, legal observers and immigration attorneys gathered at the jail's vehicle gate. The Monterey County Sheriff's Office announced a precautionary lockdown of the jail at 5:40 p.m., suspending releases and bookings, and ICE personnel left at about 6:30 p.m. According to local station KSBW, officials confirmed that five people were arrested by ICE.
Monterey County Now reported unmarked vehicles parked on the gravel area outside the jail's sallyport gate, with some federal officers wearing uniforms marked ICE. The protest lasted several hours; toward the end, about 30 protesters moved closer to the federal vehicles and some threw rocks at the vehicles as they drove away toward Constitution Boulevard. Chris Barrera, president of LULAC Council #2055, said at the scene: ICE is not wanted here. ICE is here to intimidate.
The Sheriff's Office said the lockdown was a precautionary safety measure and that no inmates were released while it was in effect; attorneys meeting clients were still allowed inside. In an October 26 statement, the Sheriff's Office said it had not been notified of the federal operation in advance, noting that federal agencies are not required to notify local law enforcement when acting on their own authority, and reiterated its commitment to California's Values Act (SB 54) and the TRUTH Act, which limit local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. County Supervisor Wendy Root Askew was reported to have questioned an ICE agent at the scene about the decision to pause releases.
Local reports said legal observers had documented ICE agents parked outside the jail's release gate on both October 26 and 27, with similar activity in neighboring Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties. The Solidarity Network Monterey County Rapid Response said one man was detained at about 4:30 p.m. on October 27 while leaving a county health clinic adjacent to the jail, and that up to a dozen ICE vehicles had been seen in the area, including around Natividad Medical Center. The arrest figures differ by source: KSBW, citing officials, reported five arrests, while the local rapid-response network confirmed one detention outside the clinic; both accounts are presented as reported.
At 3 p.m. the same day, the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United held an emergency press conference in Watsonville denouncing the ICE presence around Natividad Medical Center in Salinas and Watsonville Community Hospital; the nurses said ICE vehicles had been seen near Natividad and at least one person had been arrested near the hospital in the previous 24 hours. ICE has not publicly disclosed the targets or objectives of the operation.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 位于加州 Salinas 的蒙特雷县监狱大楼（资料图）。Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 4.0。 / The Monterey County Jail building in Salinas, California (file photo). Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
