ICE Reportedly Launches 45-Day California Enforcement Surge Starting in San Diego as Early Voting Begins

Organizers in San Diego said Thursday they had already seen an increase in enforcement on the ground. The Daily Wire reports ICE has deployed officers from across the country to California in an operation expected to last 45 days, and says more than 250 ICE officers were deployed to Southern California, according to Homeland Security sources. NBC Bay Area reports that the Washington Examiner calls the effort Operation Safe California and cites a source who said officers were told to go after anybody, including those without a criminal history. The operation’s name and the orders to officers rest on anonymous sources as relayed by those outlets.

Sources within DHS say officers are working six to seven days a week ahead of the November midterms (The Daily Wire). Mea Dominguez of the City Heights Defense Committee said: “There’s been a massive surge. We’re getting phone calls from all around the city.” San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera said children are sent to school and they do not know on a day-to-day basis whether or not their parents will be there. NBC Bay Area reports that a suspected ICE agent approached and questioned a student as he walked into the school campus.

The New Republic reports that early voting began this week in California and that voting rights groups cited an ICE detention in Santa Maria on Monday in the same area that voters had to pass through to reach a ballot drop box. See the related amended complaint entry 2026-10-07–lulac-amended-complaint-alleges-ice-detained-person-beside-active-santa-maria-ballot-drop-box-hennepin-county-plaintiff.