A Latino man walking the west sidewalk of West Hedding Street on Friday was chased and tackled by ICE agents near San Jose's Hall of Justice, and three people recording the stop say an agent pepper-sprayed them.
The account, reported Friday by Robert Salonga and Caelyn Pender in The Mercury News, puts a public defender attorney and Silicon Valley De-Bug members in the middle of a detention that started on a courthouse sidewalk and ended at a waiting vehicle. ICE did not immediately respond to the paper's inquiry.
Chase, Tackle, Then A Waiting Car
Agents approached the man, then chased him north toward Guadalupe Parkway. About five agents tackled him north of the courthouse. He was handcuffed and taken across the street to a vehicle.
A public defender attorney and De-Bug members had their phones out. They recorded the encounter and urged the agents to be less violent. An agent reportedly pepper-sprayed three of them: the attorney and two De-Bug members. The paper presents that as what the observers reported, not as an agency admission.
The man's name and immigration status were not established in the reporting. What is on the record is the sequence witnesses described: a sidewalk stop, a foot chase, a tackle, handcuffs, and a short walk to a car.
What De-Bug Asked Of Local Leaders
Silicon Valley De-Bug's director said ICE had attacked community members in public with weapons, and that local politicians and leaders should not tolerate the conduct. Jayadev, quoted in the same reporting, said those politicians should act for community safety and that ICE should be held accountable.
The group's role that morning was the one rapid-response observers have been taking outside South Bay jails and courthouses: show up, record, and tell agents to ease off. Friday's difference, on their account, is that the spray hit the people holding the phones.
A Standing Presence Outside County Jails
The County Rapid Response Network reported ICE agents at the Main Jail on Tuesday and Thursday of this week, and at least one detention there. On Thursday, the network said agents detained a Latino man who had just been released from Elmwood.
That is a different stop from Friday's sidewalk chase outside the Hall of Justice. Santa Clara County officials had already tightened the perimeter: on Nov. 2 they restricted access to the Elmwood medium-security complex in Milpitas.
Advocates told San Jose Spotlight they had seen about 10 to 12 agents at county jails every day in the week before that report. The Sheriff's Office said about 70 people had been detained by federal agents near those jails since June 2025. A legal observer with the rapid-response network said hotline calls had surged in recent weeks. Community advocates also reported that agents near the jails had started questioning people about immigration status rather than limiting themselves to targeted arrests.
A Taser Outside Elmwood, Then A Hospital Day
The courthouse spray report lands after a rough two weeks at the jail gates. On Oct. 28, observers told the Mountain View Voice that agents pursued two men released from Elmwood after the men ran from a car, and used a Taser on one. He was taken to Regional Medical Center and released later that morning.
Three days later, a volunteer and three ICE agents were treated at a San Jose hospital after a separate encounter. The Mercury News described that hospital day as the second incident of its kind that week and said officials were warning residents about heightened federal activity near South Bay county facilities.
Observer confrontations with ICE in San Jose are not new. Yesenia Campos said she was detained on Oct. 30, 2025, while watching activity at the South San Jose field office. Her federal lawsuit alleges that a supervisor, Plummer, told her to back up and, without giving her time to respond, pushed her and grabbed the arm holding her phone. The suit says she was held for 30 minutes, then released, and had not been charged as of San Jose Spotlight's account.
A City Lot Rule That Does Not Cover This Sidewalk
San Jose has a written limit on where civil immigration enforcement can set up, and it is narrower than a ban on street arrests. On Jan. 13, the City Council approved Council Policy 7-15. The City of San José says the policy bars use of city parking lots, vacant lots and garages as staging areas, processing locations or operations bases. Friday's reported chase was on and near West Hedding, outside the Hall of Justice. Nothing in the reporting places it on one of those city lots, so the policy does not explain, or govern, what witnesses say happened there.
Neighboring counties have been pushing on property and cooperation instead. On Nov. 10, Alameda County leaders sent ICE a cease-and-desist letter seeking to keep operations off county property, including jails. On Thursday, Contra Costa advocates urged their leaders to follow through on a draft policy that would sever direct cooperation between county law enforcement and ICE.
Across the county line, the numbers are separate and should stay that way. San Mateo County's Rapid Response Hotline and Office of Community Affairs reported five ICE arrests across that county on Tuesday, Local News Matters reported. Faith in Action Bay Area said at least 16 people had been detained there in the preceding 10 days. Patch reported that doorbell video showed federal immigration officers tackling and arresting a man in the front yard of a San Mateo home on Nov. 6. Those are Peninsula reports, not evidence that Friday's San Jose sidewalk stop was part of one regional operation.
By Friday afternoon the handcuffed man was in a waiting vehicle, three observers said they had been sprayed for recording, and ICE still had not answered the paper. The city's lot rule remains on the books. The sidewalk outside the Hall of Justice is not one of those lots.
