46 people so far arrested by ICE outside Santa Clara County jail, sparking protests – The Mercury News
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have arrested at least 46 people outside the Santa Clara County jail since June 2025, exploiting publicly released arrest lists in the county that prohibit cooperation with federal law enforcement, officials said.
About 80 protesters gathered Wednesday outside the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas, accusing county officials of allowing the practice to continue despite sanctuary policies meant to protect immigrant communities.
One woman described witnessing the situation first hand while waiting for the release of a family member.
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People gather to protest ICE at the Elmwood Jail in Milpitas, Calif., Wednesday, March 4, 2026. Organizations have tracked ICE arresting 46 people immediately upon release from prison in the past six months. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
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People gather to protest ICE at the Elmwood Jail in Milpitas, Calif., Wednesday, March 4, 2026. Organizations have tracked ICE arresting 46 people immediately upon release from prison in the past six months. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
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The woman said she had been waiting at the prison when two white vans appeared. At first he thought nothing of them. Then he watched his relative get out of jail and be arrested by ICE agents.
“I was very shocked when I saw it,” said the woman, whose name was withheld for security reasons. “A policeman came out and met me and asked me why I was crying, I asked the policeman what happened, he said he didn’t know what was happening.
The meeting was organized by the South Bay human rights group Silicon Valley Debug and featured speakers from several organizations.
“He came here expecting to pick up his loved one,” said Jamilah Rosales-Webb, Debug editor. “He was lied to, thinking that Santa Clara agreed that they would not cooperate with ICE, but they lied, as they always do, and he had to see his loved one arrested again in our country.”
Santa Clara County adopted local policies barring local law enforcement from assisting with immigration enforcement and established “ICE-free” zones in county-owned areas in December.
But ICE agents have been able to find people leaving prison by reviewing publicly available inmate release lists and waiting outside the facility for those people to walk free.
In 2019, Santa Clara County reaffirmed its policy of not notifying ICE of inmate releases after staff said the county could not independently verify immigration status and cited past cases in which U.S. citizens were arrested.
“What they are doing right now is going in a different direction,” said Xavier Espana, editor of Debug.
“This is just another example of how the criminal justice system leads to deportation,” added Alicia Chavez, another Debug editor.
Protesters held up 46 placards — one for each person arrested by ICE outside of Elmwood since June 2025 — with messages that read “missing” and “abducted by ICE.”
The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said it does not communicate with ICE and cannot control what happens when inmates are released from custody.
Brooks Jarosz, public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office, said anyone from the community can enter the jail’s lobby, which is open 24 hours a day, and that a list of inmates scheduled for release is posted for the public to view.
“What we’ve found is that ICE comes, looks at that list and waits for hours until that person is released,” Jarosz said.
Once someone is out of custody, he said, “they are free members of society, so we have no control over what happens beyond that.”
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People gather to protest ICE at the Elmwood Jail in Milpitas, Calif., Wednesday, March 4, 2026. Organizations have tracked ICE arresting 46 people immediately upon release from prison in the past six months. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
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People gather to protest ICE at the Elmwood Jail in Milpitas, Calif., Wednesday, March 4, 2026. Organizations have tracked ICE arresting 46 people immediately upon release from prison in the past six months. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
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Jarosz added that the Sheriff’s Office cannot legally prevent another law enforcement agency from performing its duties.
“That would be a violation of the California and United States constitutions,” he said.
But some community leaders dispute that explanation.
Sean Allen, president of the NAACP of San Jose and Silicon Valley and a former law enforcement official, said the sheriff has the authority to decide who can access jail property.
“How come they picked up 46 people if they don’t know what time they left?” Allen said.
He added that the Board of Supervisors may need to strengthen its policies against immigration enforcement in the district.
“They need to clarify that law that says ICE can’t enter the jail or the court property will take our people,” Allen said.
The arrests have sparked fear among the families of immigrants detained in Elmwood.
Another woman, whose brother is imprisoned in Elmwood, said in a written statement read by protest organizers that the uncertainty of his release is a huge burden on his family. His name has been withheld for security reasons.
“Every day, my family wakes up knowing that my older brother is inside the Elmwood Correctional Facility, and that comes with constant fear,” she said.
“Knowing that your loved one can be taken away by ICE after serving time is a different kind of heartache. It feels like a second punishment.”
