A surge of around two dozen ICE arrests conducted primarily via traffic stops has been reported the past week in Fresno and Madera counties, according to a local official and immigrant rights advocacy groups.
The Valley Watch Network, a rapid response group that tracks ICE arrests and assists detained individuals and their families, said in a social media statement that a van transporting workers from Selma to their jobs in Bakersfield on Tuesday morning was stopped by ICE and all aboard were detained.
Nora Zaragoza-Yáñez, program manager for the Valley Watch Network, said the organization has been receiving reports and is working closely with the families of detained individuals.
“We started to receive phone calls as of yesterday early in the morning that people were starting to be detained,” said Zaragoza-Yáñez, adding that they were notified that overall at least a dozen individuals were detained Monday and another dozen Tuesday.
“We’re also seeing that they’re using racial profiling tactics, targeted roving patrols. They are going to places like mini marts or places where people — farmers, landscapers — frequently visit,” she said.
She said the surge of arrests fits with “this administration’s process of going to sanctuary cities and states prior to the election,” she said. “We were calling it the election surge.”
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer said he was not aware of any change to immigration enforcement in Fresno. “Not to say it’s not occurring, but it may not have risen to my level,” he said.
Spokespeople for the Fresno Police Department and Sheriff’s Office were unable to confirm immigration enforcement activity.
The stops and arrests come within several weeks of a court ruing that lifted an injunction on warrantless arrests by the Border Patrol agents, unless someone is considered a flight risk. The original injunction was prompted by a lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of California after immigration sweeps in January 2025 in Kern County. It’s unclear if the recent surge of arrests at traffic stops are connected to the lifting of the injunction.
The arrests also come a little over a week after the Department of Homeland Security said it “has initiated a nationwide public safety surge in sanctuary cities,” though Fresno is not a declared sanctuary city.
A spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on community arrests in Fresno County.
The United Farm Workers said in a social media post Tuesday afternoon that it is aware of “multiple stops conducted today by federal agents in the Madera and Fresno areas.”
“Chaotic, warrantless immigration raids and roving patrols spread fear and disrupt lives and livelihoods,” the statement said.
Yazmin Hernandez, a DOJ-accredited representative with the UFW Foundation, a separate nonprofit organization, said in a social media post Tuesday afternoon that 20 people were detained by immigration officials in the Fresno-area on Tuesday.
A Fresno man who has been in the country since he was five years old was taken into ICE custody while he was on his way to work on Oct. 1, his daughter Elaina Salazar told The Fresno Bee. That individual, Luis Arreguin, was pulled over while driving on Manning Avenue has already been transferred to an ICE detention center in McFarland, Salazar said.
Community members living in the West Park neighborhood, located on the outskirts of southwest Fresno, said a man and woman were detained after being pulled over on their way home from work, along with another man who was leaving the Saber’s Mart at Prospect and Jensen avenues.
“I saw agents out there. I did not hear one agent ask their status. They did not ask them, ‘Are you from here? Do you have papers?’ — nothing. I personally did not hear anything like that. They just simply took them,” Rose Arellano, who has lived in the neighborhood since childhood, said Tuesday. “Nobody should have to go through our city in fear of randomly being taken simply because of the color of their skin.”
Elaina Salazar shares a photo of her father, Luis Arreguin — who was detained by ICE agents on Oct. 1 while on his way to work — on Tuesday, Oct. 6. Nick Fenley
A Mendota man who drove to Fresno on Monday to buy car parts was detained by ICE officers in downtown, his family told Fox 26.
Mendota Mayor Victor Martinez said in a Spanish-language video post on Facebook on Tuesday morning that he has received information that immigration operations are taking place. Martinez said he believes the operations are targeting people with criminal records, but others without criminal records also could be detained, he said. He told people not to panic and instead be aware of their rights.
“It seems very unfair to me, very unfair, that we’re finishing harvest season in the fields, and now they’re starting raids,” Martinez said.
Other reported ICE sightings are popping up across social media. In one video believed to have been taken in Madera, a man filmed what appears to be a law enforcement officer with a face covering and a bulletproof vest approaching his car and asking to see his identification. The Bee has not independently verified these sightings.
Naindeep Singh, executive director of the Jakara Movement, a nonprofit that serves the Punjabi Sikh community, said he’s heard reports of ICE arrests. “Since yesterday, families west of (Highway) 99 have told me the same thing: ICE is in our neighborhoods,” said Singh, who is a candidate for the District 1 city council seat in Fresno.
White vans in a parking lot behind the ICE office in downtown Fresno on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. Volunteers with the Valley Watch network say they’ve counted 13 white vans they believe are used to transport detained individuals to and from immigration detention facilities. Melissa Montalvo Fresno Bee More white vans outside ICE facility downtown Fresno
A group of volunteers with the Valley Watch Network were gathered outside the ICE office on L Street in downtown Fresno Tuesday morning. These volunteers camp outside the facility to help individuals who are released from ICE custody make travel arrangements back to their residences.
Volunteers said they’ve noticed about 13 large white vans coming in and out of the facility this week, likely to transport individuals to the Kern County ICE detention facilities. This is more than volunteer Gloria Hernandez said she’s used to seeing outside the facility.
“Today, I’ve just been crying because I see what’s going on,” Hernandez said.
Gloria Hernandez, a volunteer with the Valley Watch Network rapid response network, wears a shirt saying “I am here to help” outside the ICE office in downtown Fresno on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. Melissa Montalvo Fresno Bee 
The Valley Watch Network share what people could do if they see immigration activity in their area. The Valley Watch Network 
The Valley Watch Network share what people could do if they see immigration activity in their area. The Valley Watch Network
Fresno Bee Reporters Erik Galicia and María G. Ortiz-Briones contributed to this report.
The Fresno Bee
Melissa Montalvo is The Fresno Bee’s accountability reporter. Prior to this role, she covered Latino communities for The Fresno Bee as the part of the Central Valley News Collaborative. She also reported on labor, economy and poverty through newsroom partnerships between The Fresno Bee, Fresnoland and CalMatters as a Report for America Corps member.
The Fresno Bee
Nick Fenley is a reporter covering education, lawsuits, breaking news and more for The Fresno Bee. He’s originally from the Imperial Valley and joined The Bee in 2025.