Plainclothes federal agents spark concern among Fresno-area police, civil rights attorneys

When federal agents arrested two men outside an office in downtown Fresno on Father’s Day, they weren’t wearing anything readily identifying themselves as immigration authorities. 

Most of them wore masks and sunglasses obscuring their faces, along with dark T-shirts and jeans. The vehicles they drove were unmarked. But some of them had a badge tucked away on their belts. 

The lack of clear identification by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as well as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents have caused confusion and fear in communities across the United States. In Fresno, local police, elected officials and immigrant rights attorneys are troubled by it, too. 

Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni told Fresnoland that he is “absolutely” concerned about federal immigration enforcement showing up in plain clothes to make arrests.

“Unless you’re out there trying to get such a high-risk suspect that’s wanted for some serious crimes, that identifying yourself would not allow you to effect the arrest — which is very, very rare — you should always identify yourself,” Zanoni told Fresnoland in a brief interview Monday. 

He said the arrests made by plainclothes agents in downtown Fresno could be mistaken for something else by the average person. 

“I wonder if somebody couldn’t see the badges and said, ‘Hey, I just saw two guys get kidnapped,’” Zanoni said. 

The standard for police officers, Zanoni said, is to identify themselves while on duty and inside communities. Not doing so could endanger officer safety, especially if a bystander were to report witnessing a crime, and local authorities respond to the scene. 

“You could end up with a situation that we refer to generically as blue-on-blue,” Zanoni said. “It could create a situation where someone could call us in and then another law enforcement agency could roll up thinking these individuals are suspects when they’re actually law enforcement.”

Zanoni said the prospect of a conflict between plainclothes federal agents and local police worries him. He added that the federal agents should have at least been wearing a vest clearly identifying their agency. 

Fresno Police Chief Mindy Casto had similar thoughts: The federal agents last week should have at least been driving a marked vehicle identifying the agency they’re from, she said. Casto also shared concern about the possibility of local police stumbling upon plainclothes immigration authorities in Fresno.

“We also wouldn’t want some type of a confrontation between different law enforcement,” Casto told Fresnoland. “We count on not only us to identify ourselves to the public, but what if we had a patrol car rolling down the street and see something like that? Obviously not a situation that we would want to encounter.”

Border protection agents in Fresno?

At 7:45 a.m. on June 15, Fresnoland documented three unmarked vehicles — with California license plates — swerved to a stop right outside an ICE contractor’s office in downtown Fresno.

Right when the cars pulled over, two men were muscled outside the office and put into the back of a Ford SUV by what appeared to be federal immigration authorities in plain clothes.

Fresnoland confirmed with government spokespeople that CBP agents helped carry out that Father’s Day immigration enforcement action, although it was led by ICE. 

“CBP routinely supports ICE and other law enforcement partners,” said John Mennell, a CBP spokesperson. “Generally, CBP is supporting ICE immigration enforcement operations in multiple locations across the country.”

Back in January, CBP agents conducted immigration raids, arresting 78 people in Kern County. Although Fresno is at least a 360-mile road trip away from America’s southern border, CBP counts its 100-mile jurisdiction as air miles measured from any U.S. land border.

Part of Fresno County is within 100 air miles of the California coast, which is seen as a land border. The June 15 arrests in downtown Fresno do not appear to be within the 100 mile jurisdiction, according to distance calculations via Google Maps. 

However, the Father’s Day arrests in downtown Fresno were led by ICE, not CBP, according to Mennell, despite the CBP agents present. ICE is not limited to the 100 mile jurisdiction claimed by CBP.

ICE spokespeople, who did not share their names, have not responded to several questions from Fresnoland, including how many people were arrested in downtown Fresno on June 14 and June 15.

ICE spokespeople have also not responded to repeated questions about why CBP agents make arrests in plainclothes attire, wearing masks, sunglasses and caps to obscure their faces. 

Immigration attorneys told Fresnoland last week that arresting undocumented people with ongoing immigration cases at required check-ins felt like a strategy to strike fear amongst them. 

Bree Bernwanger, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, told Fresnoland that the manner in which immigration authorities arrested people at the ICE contractor’s office in downtown Fresno was out of line. 

Bernwanger said plainclothes ICE agents grabbing people off the street does not align with federal regulations that require agents to identify themselves. Additionally, she said Supreme Court case law establishes that immigration detention cannot be used as punishment and can only be used for ensuring individuals show up to immigration proceedings or to prevent danger to the community. 

Bernwanger said it makes no sense that the people being targeted by ICE and CBP are people who show up to their immigration court hearings and required check-ins with authorities. 

“These are people who bent over backwards — in many cases drove a long distance to be at a check in appointment with a day’s notice, or little more than a day’s notice,” Bernwanger told Fresnoland. “These are people who are trying so hard to comply with, frankly, an unreasonable request, and they are still getting grabbed off the street by plainclothes officers in a way that is chaotic and strikes fear into other people. And that’s lawless — that’s just lawless.”

Bernwanger emphasized the fact that the undocumented people required to show up to check-ins with authorities have ongoing immigration cases in which they’re seeking some kind of relief — and the outcomes of those proceedings could keep them in the United States. 

“This is a population of people who are not only following the rules, but who are putting forward potential applications for relief, who might actually get to stay,” Bernwanger said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there are people in this situation who have won forms of relief.”

Under President Donald Trump’s administration, ICE is seeking to meet a quota of arresting 3,000 people every day, in line with Trump’s campaign promise to carry out the largest mass deportation in American history. 

Back in November, Sheriff Zanoni told Fresnoland that he supports the deportation of undocumented people who have committed serious crimes. However, he said the average undocumented person who goes to work every day shouldn’t be deported, citing their impact on Fresno County’s economy. Last fall, Zanoni also said an actual mass deportation effort was unlikely to take shape. 

Now, Zanoni said he isn’t certain about who Trump is targeting anymore. 

“I just wish I wouldn’t have to ask so many questions and I could figure out — who are you getting out in the community?” Zanoni told Fresnoland. “If you’re getting deported felons and criminals, fine, but right now, some people don’t know whether you’re getting just straight undocumented folks, or are you getting criminals.”

How easy is it to impersonate plainclothes ICE agents?

In a brief interview last week, Mayor Jerry Dyer told Fresnoland he hadn’t heard of plainclothes federal authorities making immigration arrests in Fresno before. He said that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening — just that he hadn’t been made aware of it.

“There’s always a concern anytime people are not in a uniform because are they really representing the entity in which they claim to be or not?” Dyer said, before referencing how two people were arrested for impersonating ICE in Fresno just four months ago. 

He also referred to a June 14 incident in Minnesota, where an individual dressed up like a police officer and attempted to kill two lawmakers — one of whom is dead along with her husband. 

With federal immigration authorities now enforcing immigration law in plain clothes, the bare minimum to impersonate ICE or CBP agents appears to have been lowered. Counterfeit badges are available online for less than $100. 

Police Chief Casto also told Fresnoland that there’s nothing stopping a group of individuals from posing as plainclothes federal immigration authorities. However, if something like that were to happen, the Fresno Police Department would arrest law enforcement impersonators just like they did in February. 

“Nothing’s stopping them, but if we catch them, we’re going to get to the bottom of it, and if they’re impersonators, they’re going to get arrested,” Casto told Fresnoland. 

Casto emphasized that local police do not enforce immigration laws. So far, she hasn’t seen a drop in calls for service for the Fresno Police Department, and she’s hopeful that community trust in local police remains intact in Fresno. 

“Calls for service are not down,” Casto said. “That is one good measuring stick. We have not seen a precipitous drop — there’s nothing that would indicate that that’s the case.”

When asked about communication with ICE, Casto said she does communicate with the agency, but mainly about protest activity and security regarding their facilities in downtown Fresno. 

“Our communication is pretty much limited to protest-related or security-related for their buildings,” Casto said. “Obviously, those buildings are a security concern for them.”

She added that there could be an instance in which the Fresno Police Department is asked to provide security assistance, but not assistance with immigration enforcement. 

In terms of protests, she was asked by immigration authorities about a planned June 15 demonstration outside the ICE contractor’s office circulated online, and Casto responded to the inquiry with details. 

“Just that there was a protest planned and we already knew about it,” Casto said regarding what she shared with federal immigration authorities. “Some of it is more confidential because it’s of a security nature, but that’s the extent of it.”