By admin 
A reported surge in immigration enforcement activity in the Sacramento region has renewed calls from local activists for police to stop “colluding” with ICE, an accusation that the department has emphatically and repeatedly denied.
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But a Tuesday post from the immigration advocacy group NorCal Resist prompted Sacramento City Manager Maraskeshia Smith to formally limit the police department’s response to federal agents’ requests for service.
NorCal Resist alleges that on Tuesday morning Sacramento police officers conducted a traffic stop on lawful observers of ICE enforcement in south Sacramento, detaining them for 20 minutes. The observers then encountered the same officers meeting with what appears to be a masked federal agent a few blocks away, according to NorCal Resist.
The post included a photo of the alleged conversation and a brief video of one officer telling the ICE observer filming to “get out of the neighborhood for now.” NorCal Resist called upon people to demand accountability from the city, specifically the city manager.
Alyssa Gatti identified herself at the City Council meeting Tuesday night as one of the people detained by local police in south Sacramento earlier that day. She said that while detained, officers did not cite any penal code that she was in violation of.
“What are you doing about what’s happening in our city?” Gatti asked. “What are you doing about the collaboration between Sacramento Police Department and federal immigration enforcement? … Whatever it is that you’re doing, I’m going to tell you that it’s not enough.”
One voice joining the call to action was Councilmember Mai Vang, who asked that Sacramento Police Department “stop colluding” with ICE in a Tuesday post.
“I do really believe, as a council member, that we’ve fallen short as a sanctuary city,” she said at the council meeting Tuesday night.
A few hours after the video was published, Smith wrote a three-page letter to interim chief Zachary Bales, writing in bold: “Sacramento Police officers are not, and shall not act as, a security detail for ICE or its immigration enforcement operations.”
“Effective immediately, officers shall not be dispatched to assist ICE agents solely because individuals are following their vehicles, observing their activities, recording their operations, or otherwise engaging in lawful conduct,” she wrote in the letter obtained by The Sacramento Bee.
In a statement, a police spokesperson wrote that officers responded to reports that a vehicle was driving recklessly near 16th Avenue and 47th Street at around 10:40 a.m. The spokesperson directed further questions to the federal agencies involved in immigration enforcement and did not say who called for service.
Public safety vs. immigration enforcement
In response to accusations that Sacramento police have aided ICE operations, the department has pointed to its policy which says that “SPD personnel may take steps necessary to safeguard lives and property, such as maintaining a safe perimeter or directing traffic when needed,” but has maintained that they do not assist with immigration enforcement.
California law prohibits law enforcement from using resources to assist immigration enforcement, and guidance from Attorney General Rob Bonta emphasizes that whether police involvement violates state law depends on specific circumstances.
Smith’s order to Sacramento police clarified what constitutes a threat to safety, saying that “simply characterizing an assignment as a public safety response does not automatically establish that it complies with California law.”
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“Our role is public safety, not immigration enforcement,” Smith wrote. “We will protect people facing legitimate danger, regardless of who they are, but we will not allow our officers or resources to be used as an extension of ICE operations.”
She said that absent a legitimate public safety need, dispatching Sacramento police officers because ICE agents are being followed or observed “could objectively be viewed as providing security for federal immigration operations.”
“That creates a serious concern that our personnel and resources are being used to facilitate immigration enforcement in violation of the California Values Act,” she said.
Councilmember Eric Guerra said that he wanted the police department to not only adhere to the standard of state law, but the spirit of state law.
“We need to focus our resources on our needs,” he said in an interview. “I don’t need you responding to some federal agent who has their own resources.”
This is not the first time Sacramento police have been accused of aiding immigration enforcement. Activists at the John E. Moss Federal Building in downtown Sacramento, which houses ICE field offices, allege they have witnessed Sacramento police directing traffic for federal immigration agents, including escorting vehicles the wrong way down N Street to reach the back gates.
Sacramento police have also received criticism for arresting protesters in recent months, including the detainment two protesters in September that was recorded on video.
Sacramento school officials ask for police communication
Sacramento police also received criticism from Sacramento school leaders for another incident Tuesday. In the early afternoon federal immigration agents were seen near Ethel Phillips Elementary school in south Sacramento. They detained a family friend of a student at a nearby grocery store and did not enter school property, but the event caused a disturbance on campus.
Three Sacramento City Unified School District trustees appeared at the City Council meeting Tuesday night, upset that the district was not notified of local ICE activity despite substantiated reports that local police were aware of immigration agent presence in the area.
“If there’s a car accident, we usually get notified. If there’s something bad happening around the neighborhood, we get notified,” Trustee Jasjit Singh said. “They should be telling us when ICE is active in the area.”
The school district has one of the strongest sanctuary policies of any in the state, but Singh said that their ability to protect students, particularly on their way home after school, is contingent upon verified information about local ICE activity.
Student trustee and West Campus High senior Owen Naqica spoke to the distress that Tuesday’s ICE spotting near a school caused his fellow students.
“When this happens and when you see a system that has been designed to protect citizens start helping rogue agencies that are destroying communities, it furthers fear,” he said. “When our students found out, people were scared to leave campus. They were scared that it wouldn’t be safe to go home.”
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The Bee’s Mathew Miranda contributed to this story.
This story was originally published October 28, 2026 at 7:18 AM.