A 32-year-old man from Nicaragua was detained by immigration officers in south Sacramento on Thursday as he was preparing to drop off his 4-year-old daughter with her mother, according to neighbors who witnessed the scene. The man had lived in Sacramento for about five years, and a neighbor who recorded the encounter says he begged bystanders to call the police and pleaded that he wanted his baby.
Delma Vidal, who has lived in her home for 30 years, recorded the detention outside her Sacramento house and told KCRA that watching it unfold left her emotional. “Things like that shouldn’t happen,” Vidal said, describing the man’s pleas as he was taken into custody. A woman identified only as Lizeth told the station the detained father was taken to Bakersfield, though she said she does not know the current status of his case.
Lizeth told KCRA that hearing her daughter cry for her father has been painful, and she said she worries the detention could leave lasting trauma for children who witness such scenes. KCRA reported it has reached out to ICE for more information and is still waiting for a response.
A Policy Meant to Keep ICE Off City Property
Sacramento has a city policy limiting the use of city property for federal immigration enforcement, after the City Council passed an ordinance restricting civil immigration activity on municipal land by a 9-0 vote in June, according to the Sacramento Bee. City officials have denied that Sacramento police have worked with ICE, the Bee reported at the time.
Sacramento City Councilmember Mai Vang said her office has heard growing concern from residents about increased immigration enforcement in the city, and said the city manager is working to ensure the policy is implemented. It is not established whether Thursday’s detention occurred on city property or whether it involved any violation of that ordinance.
A Reported Statewide Operation, Still Unconfirmed
The Sacramento detention has not been confirmed to be connected to a reported 45-day immigration enforcement operation that, per KCRA, is said to be underway across California. Internally dubbed “Operation Safe California,” the effort reportedly began several days earlier in the San Diego area, according to the Sacramento Bee, citing the Washington Examiner. The Washington Examiner reported that officers from San Diego, along with others sent from ICE’s Los Angeles and San Francisco offices, were expected to work north through Los Angeles and reach San Francisco by November.
Accounts of the operation’s scope conflict. The Washington Examiner reported that ICE leadership told officers to arrest undocumented immigrants they encounter regardless of criminal history. But Rep. David Valadao said the Department of Homeland Security told his office that Central Valley operations are focused on individuals with active warrants and known criminal histories, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Valadao separately said DHS confirmed that enforcement operations were underway in the Central Valley, the Chronicle reported. The Department of Homeland Security has said it does not discuss law enforcement operations, and has declined to confirm or deny the reported California-wide effort.
Arrests Climbing Across the Valley
The reported crackdown has left California communities on edge, with immigrant rights groups in Northern and Central California reporting increased sightings of ICE activity. NorCal Resist described a “heavier than normal ICE presence in our region,” per the Sacramento Bee’s report. Watch groups say ICE arrested more than 70 people in the Fresno area during the week of Oct. 8, according to the Fresno Bee, with agents reportedly patrolling agricultural fields, gas stations and other work sites in Fresno and Madera counties, including sightings confirmed by the Valley Watch Network in Kerman, Mendota and Chowchilla.
Advocates say at least 100 people were detained across the San Joaquin Valley over a recent three-day span, according to CalMatters. The outlet also reported that ICE arrests in the San Francisco region spiked nearly 70%, climbing from 2,928 in the first seven months of 2025 to 4,970 over the same period this year, and cited a CBS News analysis showing ICE averaged more than 1,580 arrests a day nationally in July. In one case described by the Fresno Bee, a man arrested in Mendota was released later that day from ICE’s downtown Fresno office after his work permit was found in his wallet, according to a United Farm Worker Foundation organizer. A 54-year-old Fresno-area laborer was arrested by federal agents on Oct. 1, his family told CalMatters, and the Sacramento Bee reported that a father was arrested at a Santa Maria community college while dropping off his daughter for her freshman year.
Newsom Pushes Back, Offers Rights Guidance
Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the reported ICE plan, accusing President Donald Trump of using fear to put families at risk, and said California will defend its communities and hold federal agents accountable. Operation Safe California, as described to KCRA, is raising fresh questions about immigration enforcement practices and the toll on communities like the one outside Delma Vidal’s south Sacramento home.
