Feb. 3 council meeting<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s my understanding that DHS called us seven times,\u201d Viet Phan continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is correct,\u201d Rodriguez replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo say that they were being attacked by protesters. Is that correct?\u201d asked the councilwoman.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d replied the chief.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we never deployed in support of DHS because we had a drone monitoring the situation. Is that correct?\u201d she continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is correct,\u201d said Rodriquez.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Commander Sorenson was able to say, \u2018You\u2019re not under attack. We are not deploying our officers.\u2019 Is that correct?\u201d she asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is correct,\u201d he replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/CityCouncil-SANTAANA-2025_May-Leopo-1-5.jpg\")
Councilmember Thai Viet Phan during her remarks at the May 20, 2025 Santa Ana City Council meeting <\/p>\n
That exchange prompted Councilwoman Viet Phan to note her support for the drone contract, saying that kind of tactical flexibility from the use of drones \u201cis the absolute correct way to use these drones in order to prevent SAPD from being deployed in or in order to prevent other agencies from utilizing SAPD for their purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that, \u201cthis was how we were able to allow Santa Ana residents to protest and exercise their First Amendment rights. This is how the use of a drone helped residents protest the illegal and terrible things that ICE is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Department of Homeland Security officials did not respond to emailed questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I asked a Santa Ana police spokeswoman to confirm the incident, I got an emailed statement about the contention that DHS calls for help were denied.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did not deny their calls,\u201d stated Santa Ana Police Spokeswoman Natalie Garcia in an emailed response to questions, \u201cWe had dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAn agent from the Department of Homeland Security contacted a supervisor and made several phone calls to our Communications Center requesting assistance from the Santa Ana Police Department,\u201d Garcia wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that time, SAPD command staff was operating from our Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and had an aerial overview of the incident. Based on the information available, it was determined that immediate SAPD assistance was not necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garcia confirmed the city councilwoman\u2019s comments that SAPD only responded to the scene to protect county firefighters offering medical aid to protesters.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSAPD personnel provided assistance to OCFA by establishing perimeter security and scene protection,\u201d Garcia wrote, \u201dallowing fire personnel to safely access and treat the injured individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n
City Councilman Ben Vazquez, in a phone interview last week credited Santa Ana police, saying it was a good example of the department adjusting its response to a changing situation and respecting community sentiments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vazquez said he\u2019s looking forward to a department report and public discussion on last June\u2019s protest response that\u2019s expected in 60 days, saying it\u2019s a good opportunity for dialogue between residents and the police department.\u00a0<\/p>\n
[Read: Santana: Police Tactics Against Peaceful Protesters in Santa Ana Get a Public Hearing<\/a>]<\/p>\nVazquez credits city police saying in the past, \u201cthey\u2019ve been good with protests \u2026 by not confronting them (protesters),\u201d adding that he thinks what happened last June was out of character for the department, saying the most recent engagement with Homeland Security officials proves it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen them adjust,\u201d Vazquez said, adding, \u201cNow, we know it\u2019s a different day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Santa Ana Police Chief Robert Rodriguez publicly disputed claims from federal officials that Department of Homeland Security officers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,4219,3536,14273,53681,86549,5041,5042],"class_list":{"0":"post-183015","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-headlines","10":"tag-anaheim-news","11":"tag-ben-vazquez","12":"tag-department-of-homeland-security","13":"tag-orange-county-ice-raids","14":"tag-robert-rodriguez","15":"tag-santa-ana-police-chief","16":"tag-santa-ana-police-department","17":"tag-thai-viet-phan"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771424947_473_0A4A0250.jpg\")
Demonstrators during protests against expanded deportations efforts in Santa Ana and Orange County run from dispersal tactics on June 9, 2025. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC<\/p>\n