A West Sacramento mother of four says she is now afraid to take her children to school or even run to the grocery store, waiting until nighttime to leave her house when she needs something. She fears her family could be separated without warning as members head off to school and work each day, worried they may not reunite.
Her account is part of a wave of fear rippling through Latino families in West Sacramento, according to ABC10, which reports that anxiety over immigration enforcement is keeping some residents from their daily routines. Virginia Piedra Uribe, another West Sacramento mother, said families are concerned that enforcement is sweeping up people well beyond those who break the law, even as they say they are not opposed to targeting people who commit crimes. “ICE is now taking anyone,” she said, per the outlet.
A Local Organizer Describes Spreading Fear
Maria Grijalva, founder of the Latino Information Resource Center in West Sacramento, said the fear is not confined to one neighborhood — it is spreading throughout the region. She said her organization is now assisting at least 20 parents connected to River Banks Elementary School, many of whom face language barriers and feel they are not getting adequate support. Grijalva also said people have reported ICE agents staying at a local Hilton and in Woodland, asking residents for information, the same report states.
Grijalva separately said a Spanish-speaking parent had collected signatures asking the school district for a bilingual secretary, but that the district ignored the request, according to the outlet's reporting. A Woodland man also described a recent interaction with an ICE vehicle, part of a broader pattern of unease described in the same account.
What Washington Unified Says It Will and Won’t Do
Washington Unified School District has stated publicly that it does not collect or share information about students’ immigration status. “WUSD does not collect or share information about students' immigration status,” the district says on its immigration support webpage. The district also says it will not allow immigration enforcement activities on its campuses without proper legal documentation and prior district approval, and that any request from immigration officials to access a campus must be referred to district leadership for a review of legal documentation and applicable requirements.
District staff are prohibited from assisting in immigration enforcement activities, and the district says every child has the right to a free public education regardless of immigration status. Washington Unified has reported that it has received no reports of ICE activity on or near its campuses, even as it acknowledges that regional immigration-enforcement reports can create fear and uncertainty for students and families, according to ABC10's reporting. The district says it is committed to ensuring every child has a safe, welcoming and inclusive learning environment regardless of immigration status, and it encourages families to keep children's emergency contacts updated and to contact their principal or district office with any concerns.
Families seeking help can reach the Rapid Response Hotline at (916) 382-0256, which the district says has language capacity in Spanish and English. The hotline is tied to the Sacramento Family Unity, Education, and Legal Network for Immigrants, described by the district as a coalition of more than 80 local nonprofits, religious organizations, law school immigration clinics, businesses, pro bono attorneys and educators.
Neighboring Woodland Deals With Its Own Fallout
Just north of West Sacramento, the Woodland Joint Unified School District told ABC10 that immigration enforcement officers are not allowed on school campuses without a warrant signed by a judge, citing federal guidelines that designate schools as sensitive locations. The district reiterated its commitment to a safe and welcoming environment for every student regardless of immigration status, according to a report from Abridged.
That same report describes a more serious incident: an ICE agent was confirmed by local officials to have been driving a vehicle that struck Woodland resident Antonio Moreida on a residential street. The Woodland Police Department has opened an investigation and plans to collect video footage from multiple angles along with witness statements before deciding whether to refer the case to the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office.
Part of a Statewide Pattern
The anxiety described by West Sacramento and Woodland families fits into a broader pattern playing out across California. A reported surge in ICE operations across the Central Valley has disrupted agricultural communities and left families scrambling to locate detained relatives, according to the Los Angeles Times. Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias told the paper that the operations have reduced school attendance and the number of workers showing up to farm jobs. “We’re seeing across-the-board reduction of school attendance, substantial reduction in employees showing up to farm operations, packing sheds and in the fields,” Arias said.
Similar effects have surfaced in the Bay Area and San Diego. The West Contra Costa Unified School District reported that Friday attendance dropped compared with other three-day weekends after an ICE detention near one of its schools, and the district confirmed a parent was detained near a campus in Richmond, though that person did not have a student enrolled there, per ABC7 News. In San Diego, teachers and school leaders told EdSource that nearby arrests are increasing fear among parents and students and, in some cases, affecting attendance — with one San Diego Unified preschool teacher reporting her class had about half as many students as the previous year.
Conflicting Accounts Over School-Adjacent Arrests
Not every account lines up. CalMatters reported that the San Diego Community College District said ICE agents arrested one student on a public street cutting through the urban campus and chased another student up the steps of a campus building, and that federal agents separately arrested the father of an Allan Hancock College student in a campus parking lot in Santa Maria. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson denied that characterization, telling CalMatters that ICE does not target schools and denying that anyone was arrested on the Allan Hancock campus. A DHS spokesperson gave EdSource a similar denial regarding elementary schools, saying there have been no targeted operations at or near them.
Some Fresno-area districts, including West Park School District, have told parents that ICE agents are not allowed on campus, while Madera Unified has acknowledged the possibility of student walkouts and asked parents to encourage children to stay on campus for the full school day, according to the Fresno Bee.
New State Law Aims to Ease Family Planning
Amid the uncertainty, families can make plans for times when a parent becomes unavailable. The same resource warns that false rumors about ICE activity can cause serious fear and confusion for families — a caution that echoes what organizers like Grijalva describe seeing play out block by block in West Sacramento and Woodland.
