Reports of a new immigration office in Irvine, as well as recent enforcement operations in the area, sparked concern in the community, the unease manifesting in efforts around the city to press officials and elected representatives to make changes.
More than a hundred protestors mobilized Friday afternoon near the 2000 block of Main Street in Irvine, just steps away from a tower block where there have been reports that space has been leased for a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.
And the night before, hundreds of people gathered at a high school gymnasium for a town hall with Rep. Dave Min, a Democrat who represents Irvine, where most of the questions were related to recent immigration activity around town.
Deah Schmidt, 77, showed up to Friday’s protest outside the office complex, wielding a sign and raising her message.
“I don’t believe in (the Trump administration’s) actions,” she said, referring to President Donald Trump‘s massive immigration enforcement and deportation campaign during his second term.
“If they are undocumented, there might be a reason that they haven’t been documented yet, or they’re in the midst of being,” Schmidt, who came from Aliso Viejo to protest, said. “What breaks my heart is when I see them go after babies and mothers, as opposed to the criminals they’re supposed to be going after.”
An inventory of owned and leased property maintained by the U.S. General Services Administration, which oversees federal property, lists a lease on the 2000 block of Main Street, but leaves ambiguous which agency may be utilizing the space or what the lease timeframe is.
Homeland Security officials, due to security concerns, have asked GSA to hide lease listings and ignore normal leasing procedures, according to records obtained by Wired, which was first to report space has been leased in Irvine; Wired reported attorneys and street-level ICE agents would use the space.
Bill Velto, president of MGR Real Estate, the building’s landlord, said he “can’t comment on who’s in there.”
“It would be disrespectful of me to do that. But I can comment on who’s not in there,” he said.
“Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not in that building,” Velto said. “Nor has Immigration and Customs Enforcement leased in that building.”
Several local groups organized Friday’s protest with the goal of demanding MGR Real Estate terminate its alleged lease with ICE or any related agencies.
But many of those who showed up said they were mobilizing around broader frustrations surrounding the Trump administration’s immigration campaign, which protestors said has broken its promise of targeting “the worst of the worst.” Their unrest comes a year into the second Trump administration, during which there have been increased immigration enforcement efforts in Orange County.
Curt Fett, 37, a Marine Corps veteran who owns a small business near 2000 Main Street, was on his way to work when he spotted the protest.
He continued to his store, grabbed an American flag and a Marine Corps flag — both have been hanging in his workshop for almost 10 years now, he said — and circled back to join the growing demonstration.
“I don’t regularly go to protests,” Fett said. “But you don’t see this in Irvine. I’ve never seen this around this area before. This is something.”
Fellow veteran Byron Salvatierra, 46, also showed up to protest, saying it’s about more than a lease.
“I recognize that our affluence does give us a kind of privilege,” said Salvatierra, a resident of Irvine since 1984. “It’s important for us to use that privilege to speak out in support of communities that may not be able to speak out.”
Meanwhile, at Thursday night’s town hall meeting, where Min spoke for about an hour at University High School, several of the questions submitted to the lawmaker were about immigration.
“Know your rights; that’s really important,” Min said in response to a question about the ICE office and reports that three women were recently detained at an Irvine business by immigration officers.
Min said he’s requested a public meeting with ICE and local law enforcement, elected officials and community members to discuss what they are doing in Irvine.
The Democratic lawmaker also recently sent a letter to Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, with questions about plans for the office space and a request for a community meeting. The Irvine Democrat questioned whether the office would be temporary, how many personnel would be assigned and how the office would be funded, among other things.
“ICE’s unlawful conduct in Southern California — and across the country — has eroded public trust in the agency,” Min said.
The town hall and protest came after masked federal immigration officers reportedly detained three employees of The Dots Corp, a printing and marketing business, after they had pulled into a parking lot on Toledo Way.
One officer showed the women a purported warrant through the vehicle’s window, Jeff Shattuck, the business’s CEO, said. Then one of the women opened the car door, and the three were detained.
The officers didn’t provide him with any information when asked, Shattuck said, other than that they possessed some sort of arrest warrant. It is not clear whether the officers had a signed judicial warrant or an administrative warrant, which does not allow agents to enter private places like houses or vehicles unless given permission to enter.
Shattuck called 911 with the hope of preventing any escalation, and so that police could verify that the masked men and women in tactical gear were actual U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Immigration officers. He said they were wearing ICE patches.
Min said Thursday he will introduce a bill to reimburse municipalities for “illegal ICE activities.”
“ICE right now is not telling local law enforcement where they’re operating, what they’re doing,” Min said.
That causes problems, Min said, because naturally, when someone sees masked individuals apprehend someone, it can cause confusion and fear and lead to 911 calls. That, in turn, can bog down the system and cost agencies money and resources.
“We’d like to see ICE actually reimburse those law enforcement agencies out of their own budgets,” Min said.
