Quick Take
Federal immigration officials visited the city of Santa Cruz at least once since late July, according to communication records provided by the police department. This increases the total number of courtesy notifications from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to local law enforcement since January to 29.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) alerted the Santa Cruz Police Department that its agents will be conducting enforcement within city limits at least once since late July, according to documents provided by Santa Cruz police.
Lookout has now counted at least 29 ICE courtesy notifications to county law enforcement about immigration actions since January of this year, according to records requested from local agencies.
Lookout determined that number by filing public records requests with all five law enforcement agencies in Santa Cruz County — the sheriff’s office and the police departments of Watsonville, Santa Cruz, Capitola and Scotts Valley — for any information on any ICE courtesy calls they had received. Lookout sent public records requests in July and again in November. This most recent batch of public records from Santa Cruz police doesn’t cover from Nov. 18 to Dec. 9.
Scotts Valley and Capitola police said they did not have any records indicating their departments had received any calls from immigration officials about enforcement operations during those time periods. Lookout plans to periodically file public records requests with all five law enforcement agencies about courtesy notifications from immigration officials when they are conducting enforcement in the county.
Federal law enforcement agencies notify local police and sheriff’s departments as a courtesy when they plan to conduct enforcement in their communities. A spokesperson for ICE previously told Lookout that this is standard practice for the agency.
Planned ICE activity is down in the city of Santa Cruz compared to the first half of the year, when immigration officials notified Santa Cruz police at least seven times. Enforcement actions in Watsonville are consistent, while activity has shifted to unincorporated areas of Santa Cruz County during the latter half of the year.
Much like previous reports from Santa Cruz police, the new incident report from the department indicates that immigration officials working in the area are using unmarked vehicles and are armed. Federal agents revisited the Lower Ocean Street neighborhood, which is home to more renters, and a younger, more diverse population than other areas of the city. The document also shows that agents are conducting enforcement in the early morning hours. The report does not indicate whether immigration agents made any arrests or if there was a large-scale raid.
Santa Cruz city officials have previously told Lookout that the police department does not cooperate with immigration officials in any capacity, and said that courtesy calls from ICE are rare. Calls received from ICE agents are routed through the department’s dispatch center and shared with the on-duty supervisor.
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