ICE Sweep Through Fresno Leaves Families Without Providers, Children Asking Where Parents Are

Federal immigration agents detained roughly two dozen people in Fresno and Madera counties over the past week, pulling fathers from their driveways on the way to work, stopping farmworker transport vans headed to the fields, and leaving households without their sole income in a matter of hours.

Luis Arreguin, a Fresno County man who has lived in the Central Valley since he was 5 years old, was taken into ICE custody on the morning of October 1 as he left for work. His daughter, Elaina Salazar, said agents found him after receiving an anonymous tip, followed him as he pulled out of his driveway, and took him into custody within moments.

“I wasn’t doing anything wrong,” Arreguin told YourCentralValley from detention. “I’m a respectable person from the streets of Fresno, California.”

Salazar says her father is the household’s sole financial provider. Three days into his detention, he remained in a cement block in the medical section of a McFarland facility, still being treated for underlying health issues he had before ICE took him.

“I’m scared that the ICE administration and system, they’re going to lose him like they’ve lost thousands of others,” Salazar said. “I’m afraid he’s not going to get adequate care, and he’s going to pass in their care.” According to ICE’s own website, more than 30 people have died while in ICE custody in the last year.

In Mendota, another family told FOX26 their grandfather — a mechanic shop owner who has lived there for years — was pulled over and detained at the downtown Fresno ICE office on Monday while driving to buy auto parts. The family waited hours for an update and learned he had already been transferred to McFarland by Tuesday morning, along with everyone else picked up on Monday.

Pam Nelson Hollis, director of development and communications with Faith in the Valley, told Fresnoland that farmworkers in a transport van traveling from Selma to jobs in Bakersfield were all detained Tuesday morning. Faith in the Valley reported six targeted detentions throughout Fresno on Monday, including a man in a purple shirt near Jensen and Prospect on his way to work.

Fresno Resistance posted videos appearing to show detentions at the downtown Fresno ICE office, with two officials in tactical gear escorting an unidentified man into the facility. Other posts warned of possible federal immigration presence on 180 and Brawley, and Clinton and 99 on the west side.

Witnesses near Ashlan and Cornelia reported three black SUVs and at least six officers with concealed faces near a Walmart and Walgreens shopping center on Monday.

In Madera, witnesses reported possible federal immigration agents near the courthouse and patrolling streets, according to social media posts from a local watch group.

ICE spokespersons did not respond to requests for comment from Fresnoland, YourCentralValley, or FOX26. Federal officials have not confirmed the reported sightings or provided any details about the operations.

The Breakdown

• Roughly two dozen people were detained by ICE in Fresno and Madera counties over the past week, according to local reporting and grassroots watch groups.
• Detentions included traffic stops, following people from their homes, and stopping a farmworker transport van en route to the fields.
• At least one detained person is the sole financial provider for his household; his family says his absence leaves them without income.
• People detained on Monday were transferred to a McFarland facility in Kern County by Tuesday morning.
• According to ICE’s own website, more than 30 people have died in ICE custody in the last year.
• ICE has not responded to multiple media requests for comment or confirmed any details about the operations.

What This Means for You

If someone you know is detained, families can be given little to no information for hours, and people can be transferred to facilities in other counties quickly. Salazar’s family is documenting their experience navigating the detention process on social media as a resource for other families.

What You Can Do

Faith in the Valley is hosting a multi-faith prayer vigil at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in front of the Fresno ICE office, 733 L St, downtown.

If your family member has been detained, Salazar’s family has set up a social media account documenting their experience navigating the detention process that they say is intended to serve as a resource for other families.

What to Watch

Why won’t ICE confirm or deny these operations, or provide any information about who was detained and why? When a federal agency conducts a sweep this size and this visible — pulling people off the street in broad daylight, stopping work vans full of farmworkers, surrounding a shopping center with six officers — and then refuses to answer basic questions from the press or the public, that silence is itself a choice.

What is ICE’s stated justification for each of these detentions? Were these people on a target list, or were they pulled over at random? The agency owes the public that much, at minimum.

What happens to the children and families left behind when ICE takes the household’s only income? Arreguin’s family says his detention left them without their sole financial provider.

How many other families in this sweep are in the same position right now — rent due, no paycheck coming, no clear timeline for when or whether their family member will be released? Where is the accounting of that cost?

Why are people being held in a cement block in a medical section three days into detention, still being treated for health issues they had before ICE took them? Salazar says her father is not in a cell, but in a cement block in the medical section of the McFarland facility.

What does that mean in practice — is he receiving adequate care, or is he being warehoused? ICE’s own website states that more than 30 people have died in its custody in the last year.

Given that documented pattern, what specific protocols are in place to ensure detained people with pre-existing health conditions receive the care they need, and who is checking that those protocols are actually being followed?

Who benefits from a detention sweep carried out this way — anonymous tips, traffic stops, no public explanation? This is not a raid on a specific workplace or a targeted operation against people with violent criminal records (none of the material states any such thing).

This is pulling people off the street while they’re on their way to work, buying auto parts, or riding to the fields. What policy goal does that serve, and whose interests does it advance? The families documenting this say they want answers.