Masked Border Patrol agents on Thursday raided a Home Depot parking lot in the south Sacramento area, resulting in multiple arrests.
Gregory Bovino, the U.S. Border Patrol sector chief, shared a video on Instagram, saying the operation led to the arrests of eight people for being in the country illegally. One of those arrested is an aggravated felon for charges related to fentanyl trafficking, he said.
The Department of Homeland Security later said “at least 11” people were arrested in the Sacramento operation.
The video also included blurred video of a man who Bovino said was arrested for allegedly impeding or assaulting a U.S. federal officer.
The man’s wife, Andrea Castillo, identified him as Jose Castillo and said he was a U.S. citizen. A video she shared with KCRA 3 showed an agent accusing Jose Castillo of flattening a federal agent’s tire.
KCRA 3 later obtained photos from a witness that showed the tire that had been slashed.
The immigrant advocacy group NorCal Resist said Castillo has since been released.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said it originally got an incomplete call at 7:47 a.m. about armed, masked men in the Home Depot parking lot at 4641 Florin Road. Deputies who responded were waved down by a woman who said her husband had been taken.
Customs and Border Patrol on Thursday evening said officers “arrested numerous illegal aliens, including a dangerous serial drug abuser and dealer with 67 charges” during the Sacramento operation.
CBP identified the man arrested with dozens of criminal charges as Javier Dimas-Alcantara.
Officials said Dimas-Alcantara’s crimes include multiple instances of transport and sale of a narcotic or controlled substance, felony burglary, illegal entry, carrying a loaded firearm in public, providing false identification to a law enforcement officer, felony possession of marijuana for sale, revocation of probation due to a re-offense of possession of marijuana for sale, being under the influence of a controlled substance, multiple instances of poessession of a narcotic or controlled substance, and possession of a controlled narcotic with intent to sell.
De La Cruz spoke with Andrea Castillo, who said it was her husband Jose’s phone location that was showing up at San Juan Avenue in Stockton, where an ICE field office is located. Andrea stated that her husband is a U.S. citizen with a REAL ID and that they’ve been together for 11 years.
| VIDEO BELOW | Border Patrol agents chase, take man into custody at Sacramento-area Home Depot. See Andrea’s full video
Video shared by Andrea shows her yelling at masked officers who are chasing after a man. She can be heard saying repeatedly that he’s a U.S. citizen.
One officer held a can of mace to her face at one point in the video. That same officer can be heard again threatening to mace her.
“Move back, or you’ll be maced,” the officer said.
Another officer threatened to arrest her, claiming that she was impeding the operation.
Agents eventually caught up to Jose, pinning him to the ground.
Andrea asks why he is being detained, to which one officer said that Jose “flatted” one of their tires.
“You guys are all traitors!” Andrea yelled as the officers drove off.
NorCal Resist, an immigrant advocacy group, posted on social media stating that the raid happened at 7:50 a.m. and that one of its volunteers was arrested. The group later identified Jose as the volunteer, stating that he was documenting arrests.
NorCal Resist also said that Jose was not obstructing and was only recording the scene.
Several people arrived at the site with signs protesting the raid. The group encouraged people to attend another demonstration later Thursday at the Capitol.
| RELATED | Nationwide protests held against immigration crackdown, including in Sacramento
Jose Castillo works for a works an HVAC company and his truck was left at the Home Depot parking lot.
A statement from Authority HVAC said it confirmed that “Jose provided an I-9, SSN card and Driver’s license. All were submitted and nothing came up that was unusual.” Jose has been with the company for six months and was on the clock.
Public officials react to the raid
“The Border Patrol should do their jobs – at the border—instead of continuing their tirade statewide of illegal racial profiling and illegal arrests,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.
Sacramento City Council Member Caity Maple sent the following statement in response to the raid:
“I have been made aware of reports and video footage showing an ICE raid at the Home Depot on Florin Road. I want to say clearly that this is unacceptable.
District 5 is home to many immigrant families who deserve to feel safe and supported. Raids like this do nothing but spread fear and trauma. I’ll be working to get as much information as possible and will continue to stand up for our undocumented neighbors.
To those affected: you belong here, and you are not alone.”
The Home Depot where the raid happened is just outside of her district.
| SEE MORE REACTION | Leaders, officials react to Border Patrol operations in Sacramento
Sacramento Assemblymember Maggy Krell worked as an attorney in the California Department of Justice before being elected to the Legislature last year.
Krell is questioning if the Border Patrol violated a federal court order issued back in April in the Eastern District of California that prohibits federal agents from conducting raids in the region without probable cause or a warrant.
The order is separate from a recent court order in Southern California, that prohibits federal agents from indiscriminate stops in seven counties in that region.
“I think we need an explanation,” Krell told KCRA 3 in an interview on Thursday. “I don’t know what information Border Patrol had before the arrests, but it looks a little suspicious to me that they rounded people up in a Home Depot parking lot where they were probably going to work.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District Court of California said she had no comment.
More operations in Sacramento County
After the Home Depot call, the sheriff’s office said Border Patrol called at 7:51 a.m., stating that its officers were in the parking lot and had since cleared out.
The sheriff’s office said it then got another call at 7:57 from a resident who said masked men broke into their neighbor’s house. The resident told deputies that the neighbor had asked the resident to call 911.
Deputies went to the home and learned it was Border Patrol conducting an operation.
According to the sheriff’s office, it did not assist federal agents in any way. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office said they are aware of other federal operations that happened in the area Thursday, but they do not have specific information on where and when.
The Sacramento Police Department said it is aware of ICE activity that took place at 5:40 a.m. in the 7500 block of Titan Parkway for a specific person. Officers did not assist or participate in the operation.
Concerns about communication between federal and local law enforcement
The immigration raids in Sacramento County raised concerns over the communication between federal and local law enforcement.
The sheriff’s office was first made aware of the enforcement action at Home Depot by a concerned citizen, not a federal agency.
The agency said it received a 911 call at 7:47 a.m. reporting a group of armed individuals at the Home Depot on Florin Road. Four minutes later, at 7:51 a.m., the U.S. Border Patrol notified the sheriff’s office about their enforcement activities in the area.
“This could’ve been a whole lot worse,” Former Sacramento Sheriff John McGinness said, highlighting the dangers when federal and local law enforcement do not communicate. “The most dangerous thing a law enforcement officer does is effectuate a physical arrest. If you don’t have communication, you compromise the safety of that.”
But under a law some say makes California a sanctuary state, local law enforcement is limited in cooperating with federal immigration enforcement. McGinness said people can’t expect that to stop federal agents.
“Everybody should reasonably expect that Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol is going to do what they are in business to do. And not everybody is satisfied with the manner in which they do their business,” he said.
An operation far from the southern border
While raids are often associated with ICE, Border Patrol can conduct arrests up to 100 miles away from the border, even though their primary role is at the border.
Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom, whose district includes Stockton, sent a letter to Attorney General Rob Bonta, urging him to investigate whether officers violated any state or federal laws, or constitutional rights.
She also questioned why Border Patrol agents were in Sacramento and Stockton when they are so far from the southern border.
The American Civil Liberties Union said that the 100-mile radius includes the entire coastline. Sacramento is roughly 90 miles from the coast. Learn more about the 100-mile rule here.
The raids come on the same day the U.S. Department of Justice issued requests to sheriffs in multiple major California counties, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, for lists of all inmates in their jails who are not citizens. The DOJ is also requesting their crimes of arrest or conviction and their scheduled release dates.
KCRA confirmed with the DOJ that those requests were sent to the LA County Sheriff’s Department, San Francisco County Sheriff’s Office, San Diego County Sheriff’s Office and Riverside County Sheriff’s Office.
In the release, Attorney General Pamela Bondi said she hopes the counties will voluntarily produce the information but went on to say that the DOJ will “pursue all available means of obtaining the data, including through subpoenas or other compulsory process.”
Although Sacramento and other nearby counties are not included in this list KCRA 3 did reach out and ask the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office if it would be prepared to provide that information if requested.
One spokesperson tells KCRA 3 they would have to receive this request and look through it to even know what steps to take.
“We have not received any official requests. As far as the press release, much of the information is already publicly available, but we are not permitted to provide other information listed in the release per California law (SB 54),” said Sgt. Amar Gandhi, Sacramento sheriff’s spokesperson.
Immigration agents have recently conducted raids at Home Depot parking lots in other parts of California.
Debate over masked federal agents
Masked federal officers have become a point of contention. California lawmakers in the Assembly this week advanced a proposal that would force officers at every level in the state to show their faces when conducting official law enforcement operations.
Officers who don’t comply could face a misdemeanor. This measure exempts undercover officers.
Senate Bill 627 passed the Assembly Public Safety Committee on Tuesday.
Learn more about the bill here.
