Federal immigration agents took several people into custody during sweeps outside Home Depot stores in Encinitas and San Marcos on Thursday.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson said that it was a Border Patrol operation. Border Patrol officials did not return requests for information about the arrests.
The operation came on the second day of the federal government shutdown, in which federal law enforcement officers are generally deemed essential and were told to continue working on deferred pay. Border Patrol has said its operations will continue during the shutdown.
People who remained at the San Marcos site after the sweep estimated that agents, who pulled up in unmarked SUVs, took away 15 to 20 people. Activist group Unión del Barrio issued a statement on social media noting the incident happened about 8:30 a.m. It also reported immigration enforcement activity about a half hour later at a San Marcos office/education building about a mile away on Rancheros Drive, where the group said witnesses saw agents detain about 10 people.
The group said it also received reports of enforcement activity shortly after 10 a.m. at a Home Depot in Encinitas. It said witnesses reported about 10 people were detained.
Some said agents wore face coverings during the San Marcos operation. Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill banning federal and local law enforcement from wearing ski masks or other extreme facial coverings — with exceptions — but it does not go into effect until Jan. 1. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security — the parent agency of the Border Patrol — said on social media platform X last month that it will not comply with what it called “Gavin Newsom’s unconstitutional mask ban.”
Video on social media shows agents in the parking lot of the home-improvement store in San Marcos, including one arresting someone near the entrance to the store. At least one agent appeared to be masked and carrying a long gun. A handful of people are seen in handcuffs, and some are placed inside SUVs.
One man told the Union-Tribune that he was in the lot when agents swarmed the site. “They got here and surrounded everything,” he said in Spanish. “They were masked, armed and everything.”
The man said one agent grabbed him by the collar, but he squirmed out of the shirt and took off running. “The thing is, if they get me, there’s no way of knowing where they’ll send me,” he said. “I don’t know if they’ll catch me and send me there with the crocodiles.”
The Trump administration’s newest immigration detention center is in the Florida Everglades and has been dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”