Union del Barrio reported seeing ICE vehicles at Herbert Ibarra Elementary parking lot Friday morning.
SAN DIEGO — Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicles were reportedly spotted in the parking area of Herbert Ibarra Elementary School, according to members of Unión del Barrio.
Unión del Barrio is a community group that patrols for ICE activity in San Diego and Los Angeles.
Benjamin Prado, a member of Unión del Barrio, stated, “Today we decided to patrol City Heights and were able to identify three ICE agents in three different vehicles. We were looking for them and tracked their movements and saw them enter the school campus.”
Families of Herbert Ibarra Elementary were provided a letter from the San Diego Unified School District in which the principal shared a report of several unmarked vehicles driving through their school parking lot at approximately 6:30 a.m.
The district shared that they are unaware of any affiliation that those vehicles may have with any government agency and are working with school police to verify this report. The letter also mentioned there was no indication of any enforcement activity on their campus, and all students and staff are safe.
Field Office Director Patrick Divver, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations San Diego said :
“At no time did ICE conduct enforcement activity on school grounds, nor did any officer exit their vehicle while briefly in the parking lot. Any suggestion otherwise is completely false.
ICE San Diego officers were conducting a targeted enforcement operation in the City Heights area when activists began harassing our officers. As a result, the officers pulled into the first available parking lot.
The interference of activists in law enforcement operations creates unnecessary risks to themselves, the community, and our officers. These actions hinder our ability to remove individuals who pose a threat to public safety and contribute to misinformation that endangers everyone involved.”
The incident has sparked calls for action from community groups. Eréndira Ramírez, a parent in the district and member of Unión del Barrio, said, “We need to create safe zones around campus so we can feel safe bringing our children to and from school. What happened today at Ibarra was terrifying as a parent and completely unacceptable.”
Marisol Duran, a member of the Association of Raza Educators, echoed these sentiments, stating, “We need resources and support to be allocated to our Familias who are under attack. We hope that the district leadership will join us in this fight, but we will continue to organize with or without you.”
The letter provided to families of Herbert Ibarra Elementary also shares that school grounds are safe spaces that cannot be accessed by ICE without a proper signed warrant.