Fear of ICE Raids Empties Central Valley Schools, Businesses as Local Leaders Clash Over Response

Reports of increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity across the Central Valley this week have left schools emptier, swap meets nearly deserted, and families afraid to leave home — a disruption that has divided local elected officials over how to respond.

Mendota Unified School District reported 130 more student absences Wednesday compared to the week before. At the Madera Swap Meet, vendors described customers who once browsed now leaving quickly, and longtime buyers of everyday staples like beans and dried peppers staying home entirely. One vendor said produce is going bad because no one is there to buy it.

“Now it’s different because people are seeing videos showing that it’s real. Before, they were just rumors. Now there are videos on social media,” a swap-meet vendor said.

Fresno County Supervisor Luis Chavez said the fear is driving people to skip work or risk being separated from their children if detained while at work, leaving the county to rely on social services to help affected families. He said ICE agents are not welcome at county property, including the Fresno County Fairgrounds, which opened Thursday.

“I would personally contact Attorney General Bonta to take some litigation on that. We don’t want people to be fearful,” Chavez said, referring to state law that limits local agencies from assisting federal immigration enforcement.

Mendota Mayor Victor Martinez criticized the reported enforcement increase, saying it disrupts daily life without clear benefit. “Our people are hardworking immigrants. They go and work in the fields day in and day out to harvest the fruits that everybody eats,” Martinez said. “Tell me, how does that help? And where does it make sense? Not having kids going to school, people not going to buy groceries, people not going to their doctor appointments.”

Madera County Supervisor David Rodgers took the opposite view, saying immigration authorities are carrying out their responsibilities. “They have a job to do and that’s simply to uphold the law. I have no problem with upholding the law,” Rodgers said.

According to the United Farm Workers, 20 people were detained in Fresno on Tuesday. Immigration watch groups and community organizers reported sightings in Selma, Reedley, Tulare, Merced, and Madera, including an operation Wednesday morning on Columbia Street in Madera where witnesses said unmarked vehicles surrounded a home near a preschool.

ICE told news outlets it cannot disclose or discuss law enforcement operations, adding that the Department of Homeland Security enforces the nation’s laws every day.

Protesters gathered outside the Fresno ICE office holding candles and signs reading “Abolish ICE.” Alfred Aldrete of Fresno Resistance said he spent several days outside the facility and saw at least 15 vans carrying detainees arrive. “Inside the facility, every room is packed to the rim with people waiting to be released, have their cases heard, or be transferred to the next facility,” Aldrete said.

The Madera Police Department posted on social media that it does not participate in or provide support for immigration operations and does not communicate with ICE. Mendota Unified Superintendent Paul Lopez sent a letter to families saying the district has policies in place to protect students’ rights and privacy regardless of citizenship or immigration status.

The Breakdown

• Senate Bill 54, California’s “sanctuary state” law, limits state and local law enforcement and personnel from assisting with federal immigration enforcement, including interrogating, detaining, or arresting people for immigration purposes.
• Fresno County property, including the fairgrounds, is subject to that state law — county officials and personnel are required to follow it.
• Supervisor Chavez said he would seek legal action through the state Attorney General if ICE entered county property without a warrant.
• The Madera Police Department and Mendota Unified School District both stated they do not participate in immigration enforcement operations.

What This Means for You

Supervisor Chavez and Mayor Martinez are using their positions to publicly oppose the enforcement activity and reassure residents, while Supervisor Rodgers is publicly supporting it. When you vote for county supervisors, city council members, and mayors, you are deciding which officials will speak for your city or county when federal enforcement activity occurs in your community — including whether they will challenge federal actions, accommodate them, or stay silent.

What to Watch

The material documents real fear and real disruption — empty schools, lost income for vendors whose produce spoils, families staying home — but the elected officials quoted frame the situation in starkly different terms, and none of them offers evidence to back up their assessment.

Supervisor Chavez says ICE agents “are not keeping anyone safe” and that “the community trusts local law enforcement” instead, but the material does not state what specific public-safety concern ICE enforcement is supposed to address in the first place, or whether local law enforcement has the authority or the interest in handling immigration violations that ICE is pursuing.

Supervisor Rodgers says the agents are “enforcing the laws that are on the books” and doing it “right,” but the material does not state which laws, or what “right” means — whether the stops and detentions documented this week involved warrants, probable cause, or anything beyond an agent’s judgment about who “looks some type of way,” as Leonardo Sandoval described his own stop.

Mayor Martinez says “our people don’t deserve that” and asks what sense it makes to disrupt schools and daily life, but the material does not state whether any of the 20 people the United Farm Workers says were detained Tuesday had prior removal orders, criminal records, or pending cases that would make them enforcement priorities under any administration’s policy.

ICE’s own response — that it “cannot disclose or discuss” operations — means there is no public accounting at all for who was detained, why, or under what legal authority. The material does not answer those questions, and the officials quoted do not either.