Arias tells immigrants to skip Big Fresno Fair despite fair officials confirming no ICE presence
Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias is telling immigrants to stay away from the Big Fresno Fair. Fair officials say there’s no ICE activity there. Police Chief Mindy Casto says her department has no information indicating ICE plans enforcement at the fair.
The Big Fresno Fair released a video Sunday saying “there have been no confirmed sightings of ICE at The Big Fresno Fair, and we have received no information regarding any planned federal immigration enforcement activity at the Fair.” Fair officials said false information and AI-generated images are creating unnecessary fear.
Arias told FOX26 he continues to discourage immigrants from attending, including those with legal status. He says ICE agents have been active in neighborhoods near the fairgrounds. He did not provide evidence of enforcement at the fair itself.
This is not the first warning from Arias. He previously warned of a possible ICE raid at the Cherry Avenue auction. The raid never materialized. Vendors later told FOX26 the warning hurt business.
Omar Salinas, who works near the fairgrounds, said the warnings are affecting local businesses. “It’s messing up the business. It’s scaring the people to come out to have fun,” Salinas said. People have asked him whether it is safe to park nearby.
María Guadalupe, a resident near the fair, told FOX26 she has not personally seen immigration agents in her neighborhood. Juan Padrón, who also lives near the fair, says he worries people could encounter agents while traveling to the event, even if agents are not inside the fairgrounds.
In FOX26’s Question of the Day, 75% of respondents said they had not seen ICE agents at or around the fair. The results reflect viewer responses, not a scientific survey.
Police Chief Mindy Casto told FOX26: “ICE does not advise the Fresno Police Department of their planned operations, but we have no information to indicate they will conduct enforcement at the fair.”
The Big Fresno Fair issued a statement Tuesday: “We hope our community will come out and enjoy the Fair, but we also respect that the decision to attend is a personal one. That choice belongs to each individual and family.”
Arias told FOX26 the city plans to announce new assistance for vulnerable communities early next week. He did not provide details about what that assistance will include.
The Breakdown
- Councilmember Arias is warning immigrants, including those with legal status, to avoid the Big Fresno Fair, citing ICE activity in neighborhoods near the fairgrounds — he provided no evidence of enforcement at the fair itself.
- The Big Fresno Fair, Fresno Police Chief Mindy Casto, and fair officials all say there have been no confirmed ICE sightings at the fair and no information about planned enforcement there.
- This is Arias’s second such warning — his earlier warning about a possible ICE raid at the Cherry Avenue auction preceded a raid that never happened, and vendors said the warning hurt their business.
- Local workers and residents near the fairgrounds say the warnings are scaring people away and affecting business, though some residents say they worry about encountering agents while traveling to the event.
- Arias says the city will announce new assistance for vulnerable communities next week but provided no details.
What This Means for You
You’re being told by an elected city official to avoid a public event based on a threat that the fair, the police chief, and fair officials all say they cannot confirm. The question is whether Arias’s warning is grounded in information the public hasn’t seen, or whether it’s creating the fear it claims to respond to. His vote on city council, and your vote on whether to keep him there, determines whether this approach — issuing warnings with no confirmed enforcement and no disclosed evidence — is how your city handles immigration enforcement by a federal agency the city does not control.
What to Watch
Arias says ICE agents have been active in neighborhoods near the fairgrounds. What is that claim based on? If he has reports, records, or specific incidents, he hasn’t named them. The fair, the police chief, and fair officials all say they have no information about ICE activity at or around the fair. If Arias has evidence they don’t, what is it, and why hasn’t he provided it?
This is the second time Arias has issued a warning about ICE enforcement at a local gathering place — the first, at the Cherry Avenue auction, preceded a raid that never happened, and vendors said the warning hurt business. Workers near the fairgrounds now say the same thing is happening again. Is the pattern one of warnings grounded in real intelligence, or warnings that create the disruption they’re framed as preventing?
Arias says the city will announce new assistance for vulnerable communities next week. What assistance, funded how, and decided by whom? The city does not control federal immigration enforcement. What the city does control is how it spends taxpayer money and whether it uses that money to respond to confirmed threats or to manage fear created by its own officials’ statements. Watch whether the announced assistance is a response to documented ICE activity or a response to the disruption created by the warnings themselves.
