The Monterey County Jail went on lockdown Tuesday, Oct. 27, after federal immigration agents parked outside the facility's release gate in Salinas, triggering an on-camera standoff between a county supervisor and an ICE agent.
The Sheriff's Office announced the lockdown at 5:40 p.m., suspending all inmate releases, halting new bookings and closing the jail to public visitors except attorneys, according to Monterey County Now. The office called it a precautionary measure to ensure safety.
About 50 people gathered outside the jail's sallyport gate, where unmarked vehicles were parked along a gravel area, Monterey County Now reported. Some federal officers wore uniforms with "ICE" lettering. Legal observers, immigration lawyers, protesters and elected officials were in the crowd.
Video first reported by KSBW captured Monterey County Supervisor Wendy Root Askew in a tense exchange with an unnamed ICE agent about the jail's decision to pause releases.
"They will not be releasing anyone who is at risk today," Askew told the agent, adding she had spoken with the sheriff.
The agent pressed back, asking whether holding people who would otherwise be legally free to leave amounted to a Fourth Amendment violation. Askew said the county would not release anyone at a location where ICE was present. She drew a distinction between the lockdown and the county's policy, saying the policy "is just about staging of immigration enforcement," according to KSBW's video.
The county's Board of Supervisors adopted that anti-staging policy on Sept. 29. The resolution, RES 26-145, bars county property from being used as a staging area, processing location or operations base for civil immigration enforcement. It includes exceptions for judicial warrants and criminal law enforcement. Monterey County Now reported the vote was 5-0.
A person who identified themselves as an ICE operative told KSBW on camera that agents were conducting a "targeted operation" involving people at the jail, KSBW reported. ICE agents had been observed near the jail and Natividad Medical Center as early as Monday, Oct. 26, according to the Solidarity Network Monterey County Rapid Response, which trains volunteer legal observers to document ICE activity, Monterey County Now reported.
The Solidarity Network said one person was detained around 4:30 p.m. Oct. 27 while leaving a county health clinic on the government campus next to the jail, Monterey County Now reported. Up to a dozen ICE vehicles had been seen patrolling nearby parking lots, including at Natividad Medical Center and county health clinics, according to the network.
The Sheriff's Office said it had not been notified of the federal operation and could not verify the agents' identities or purpose. Federal agencies are not required to notify the office when conducting independent operations, the office said. In a statement, the Sheriff's Office said it remains committed to complying with the California Values Act and the TRUTH Act, which govern local law enforcement interactions with federal immigration authorities.
The Department of Homeland Security declined to discuss the operation when KSBW asked about ICE detentions in Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties from Oct. 13 through Oct. 27, citing operational security and officer safety, KSBW reported.
The protest grew heated as about 30 people moved closer to the federal officers' vehicles. Some threw rocks at the vehicles as agents drove away toward Constitution Boulevard around 6:30 p.m., Monterey County Now reported. Whether the jail lockdown has been lifted was not clear as of publication.
