Masuda Condemns Surge of ICE Operations in California

“The stories and videos of ICE and immigration enforcement officers that we are seeing across California and the Central Valley are appalling. Right now, aggressive surges in ICE activity are accomplishing the exact opposite of keeping us safe. Instead of going after ‘the worst of the worst’, ICE has been directed to target everyone indiscriminately. They are going after hardworking parents, construction workers, farmworkers, and neighbors who have peacefully lived here for years and are just trying to go to work or school. Citizens and legal residents, and people going through the legal process are also being detained. These ICE raids do not make our neighborhoods safer. They tear families apart, instill fear, and waste taxpayer dollars terrorizing law-abiding people instead of targeting criminals. When our neighbors are too scared to drop their kids off at school, go to the doctor, or buy groceries, it hurts our entire community. What’s more, this appears to be part of a broader effort to intimidate our marginalized communities from going to the polls this November.

Tom McClintock, Chair of the House Subcommittee on Immigration, has not only encouraged these brutal tactics, he has actively defended them. He ignores serious violations of Constitutional rights by federal immigration officers and misleads the public about who is being detained, the vast majority of whom have no criminal record. His disregard for basic decency and humane immigration enforcement is a cover for his failure to deliver comprehensive, common- sense immigration solutions for his own constituents.

As your representative, I will fight to fix our broken immigration system, hire more judges to clear the administrative backlog, and create fair, trustworthy pathways for people to secure work permits, legal status, and citizenship. We must hold ICE leadership accountable, halt these destabilizing community sweeps, and ensure federal agencies focus strictly on real safety threats instead of terrorizing families.”