A parent dropping their child off at a West Oakland elementary school was apparently targeted by federal immigration officers Wednesday morning, resulting in a car chase that ended in a crash, according to Oakland City Council Member Carroll Fife.

In an Instagram post, Fife said a person was allegedly chased down by ICE officers in a SUV after dropping their child off at Hoover Elementary School near 33rd and Market streets. The chase resulted in the parent’s vehicle crashing into a parked car, Fife said.

The Oakland Police Department said in a statement that the driver crashed just before 10 a.m. on the 800 block of 31st St. after an “outside law enforcement agency” attempted to contact the vehicle while conducting an investigation. Police were “not notified of any outside agency conducting investigative operations in that area of Oakland,” the police department said.

After the crash, the driver got out of their car and ran into a nearby home, Fife said. Neighbors came out of their homes and protected the person, asking officers to identify themselves, the council member said.

Fife said neighbors told her that “there were too many white people around to detain this parent.” She thanked the neighbors for protecting the person.

“They’re wreaking havoc in our neighborhoods that is actually causing harm,” Fife later told the Chronicle in a phone interview.

Alameda County’s rapid response hotline said that ICE and the Department of Homeland Security personnel were in the area but did not enter school grounds. The group said it was likely a targeted enforcement and were not aware of any ICE-related arrests.

Oakland school district officials alerted parents of the ICE presence near Hoover Elementary, saying ICE officers were last seen near the intersection of 31st and Market streets. Hoover Elementary went into “secure school protocol” because of the nearby ICE activity. The nearby Harriet Tubman CDC preschool also went into “secure school protocol” before classes were dismissed for the day, district officials said.

“Your child is safe in school,” the alert said.

After the attempted arrest, parents and community members gathered outside of Hoover Elementary and other nearby schools to protest the ICE activity and protect immigrant families in their neighborhood.

Jordan Baxter Stern, a music teacher at Hoover Elementary, said volunteers who patrol the area near the school during student pickup and drop-off times spotted two black unmarked SUVs lingering outside of the campus around 8 a.m. Volunteers began filming the vehicles and immediately alerted school officials, Stern said.

Stern said the school’s principal went up to the vehicles to ask who they were and to ask them to leave. The officers in the SUVs apparently told the principal that they were police, Stern said. When Stern started following their car, he said one of the officers got out and brandished their weapons.

Stern and other volunteers began alerting neighborhood groups. Volunteers followed the SUVs while blowing whistles and airhorns – a popular tool used by Chicago activists to alert neighbors of ICE agents in the area.

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said in a statement that her office immediately contacted school district officials and the police department after learning of federal immigration enforcement activity near a school in West Oakland.

“Oakland stands firmly with you – this is who we are and what we believe,” Lee said. “You are not alone, and we will not be intimidated by federal operations designed to create fear and division.”

Jessica Christian contributed to this report.

This article originally published at ICE chased down Oakland parent at school drop-off in attempted arrest, city council member says.