Two hotels in North Natomas have become flashpoints in Sacramento's fight over federal immigration enforcement, after immigration advocates say federal agents pepper-sprayed protesters outside a Hilton Garden Inn and Sacramento police detained and cited two activists for trespassing at a nearby Homewood Suites. Now a city councilmember is calling on Hilton to stop housing ICE agents altogether, warning that demonstrations will keep coming if it does not.
Confrontations Spread From One Hotel to the Next
According to The Sacramento Bee, immigration advocates first gathered outside the Hilton Garden Inn on Advantage Court after spotting vehicles they identified as federal. Video reviewed by the paper showed two masked men in police uniforms, believed to be federal immigration officers, outside the hotel. When activists were told ICE agents had relocated to the Homewood Suites on Advantage Way — about a quarter-mile away — the demonstration followed them there, and the two properties saw several altercations between protesters and law enforcement that day.
Federal agents appeared to use pepper spray on two protesters outside the Hilton Garden Inn, the newspaper reported. Sisi Rose, credited as the source of accompanying images, said two protesters were sprayed directly and two others were affected by the chemical agent. The Bee also reported that one officer grabbed a protester who was filming him and that an officer deployed pepper spray after a brief struggle.
Two Activists Cited for Trespassing
Sacramento police detained Alyssa Gatti and Leanna Hunt at 11:45 p.m. outside the Homewood Suites, issuing both women criminal trespass notices and citations for refusing to leave the property, per the Bee's reporting. Gatti and Hunt disputed that characterization, saying they were not refusing to leave when they were detained. They alleged police singled them out because of an altercation the previous week, and Gatti said there were between 10 and 15 other people at the scene but that she and Hunt were the only two handcuffed.
A Sacramento Police Department spokesperson said officers responded to a request from hotel staff to remove people who refused to leave, the newspaper's report notes. Gatti and Hunt are now urging the city to strengthen its sanctuary policies and to abandon its agreement with a regional intelligence-sharing center. Hunt specifically called for discipline against officers she accused of violating state sanctuary law, and for action on the city's relationship with the fusion center.
Councilmember Presses Hilton to Cut Ties
Lisa Kaplan, the Sacramento City Councilmember representing North Natomas, condemned the reported use of chemical agents and physical force against protesters, saying people exercising their First Amendment right to protest and observe federal actions should never be targeted with force. She urged Hilton to stop housing ICE agents and warned that demonstrations would continue at the hotels if it did not, arguing that local businesses should not act as a harbor for an agency she described as dedicated to terrorizing neighbors.
Kaplan said she was trying to reach the general managers of both hotels but had not succeeded, and the Bee reported it received no response to its own calls to the properties. Hunt said Kaplan and City Manager Maraskeshia Smith were clearly condemning the actions and supporting activists' First Amendment rights, though she said she hoped Kaplan would take further action beyond public statements. Gatti said local officials appeared to be taking the concerns seriously but that she wished they had acted sooner on police conduct around ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.
City Manager Orders Police Off ICE Security Detail
The clashes come as Smith has already moved to limit how closely Sacramento police work with federal immigration agents. According to the Sacramento Bee, Smith instructed the department that officers are not, and shall not act as, a security detail for ICE. Her directive also states that officers shall not be dispatched to assist ICE agents solely because individuals are following their vehicles, observing their activities, recording their operations, or otherwise engaging in lawful conduct.
That order followed an allegation from the group NorCal Resist that Sacramento officers detained lawful observers of ICE enforcement for 20 minutes. A police spokesperson said separately that officers had responded to a report of reckless driving near 16th Avenue and 47th Street at around 10:40 a.m., though the spokesperson did not identify who had requested that response. The directive also arrived weeks after Sacramento police faced criticism from school leaders when federal agents were seen near Ethel Phillips Elementary and detained a family friend of a student at a nearby grocery store, according to the Record-Bee.
Fusion Center Scrutiny Builds
Separately, Sacramento Bee reporting shows a broader push for transparency over how city police share data with other agencies. Council members Caity Maple and Mai Vang are working on a proposal to increase transparency over data sharing, the outlet reported, after public records showed Sacramento police shared local license plate-reader data with two other fusion centers in California. The Central California Intelligence Center is one of five regional fusion centers statewide where local, state and federal agencies share intelligence related to criminal activity and public safety.
Sacramento police Deputy Chief Bryce Heinlein has said the department does not share personally identifying information for civil immigration enforcement and shares only intelligence related to criminal activity. Still, the council's own record on the center is mixed: in June, members unanimously approved an immigration action plan restricting use of city property for civil immigration enforcement, but in July the council voted 5-2 to renew a federal homeland security grant agreement supporting the fusion center, with Maple and Vang opposed.
NorCal Resist has reported a major surge in street enforcement by federal agencies since Oct. 8, and the group's volunteer network says it has been inundated with reports of ICE sightings stretching from Sacramento to the Oregon border. California's Values Act gives local law enforcement discretion to cooperate with immigration authorities only where doing so would not violate federal, state or local law or policy — a framework state lawmakers wrote into the statute, according to records from the California Legislature.
