ENCINITAS — The Encinitas City Council offered harsh criticism of federal immigration enforcement before voting to pursue greater transparency amid reports of masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in unmarked vehicles pursuing and arresting residents.
Mayor Bruce Ehlers said at the Oct. 28 council meeting that when it comes to ICE tactics within the community, “the fear is real.”
“Things have gotten a lot worse in the last two and a half weeks, I couldn’t agree more,” Ehlers said. “It has gone from bad to horrible.”
At the meeting, the council unanimously voted to pursue actions that included:
- Directing staff to investigate how best to restrict immigration enforcement on city-owned property and return with an ordinance.
- Increasing pressure on federal partners and exploring ways to strengthen Freedom of Information Act requests to ICE.
- Increasing communication between the city and community members concerned about immigration enforcement, including partnering with trusted community leaders.
In an Oct. 28 statement responding to questions about operations in Encinitas, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations office in San Diego said it continues to conduct “targeted enforcement operations throughout San Diego County.”
“ERO San Diego is unable to provide specific information regarding government vehicles, as disclosure of this information could compromise the safety of the officers conducting these enforcement activities,” the statement said. “Additionally, to protect the privacy of individuals encountered during enforcement operations, ERO San Diego cannot disclose personal information or discuss ongoing investigations.”
The city began considering how it might respond to concerns about federal immigration enforcement at an August 2025 meeting. After procedural delays, the city ultimately launched a Know Your Rights campaign and submitted FOIA requests for information about federal actions within the city, among other steps.
The concerns follow enforcement actions that have separated local families. As previously reported by The Coast News, two Capri Elementary parents, identified in online community fundraisers as Angel and Esmerelda, were detained separately while traveling to work in late June.
Angel was released July 17, though his immigration case remained active at the time of the report. Esmerelda was later deported to El Salvador, according to the fundraiser supporting her family.
Gio Altamirano, an Encinitas resident who attended Capri as a child and whose son attends school in the district, was detained July 12 while driving to work, according to a family fundraiser.
The arrests followed enforcement actions near Park Dale Lane Elementary in August 2025 that prompted protests and emergency council discussions.
ICE said the initial arrest occurred away from campus and out of view of the school and involved a man with a final removal order dating to 2017.
At the Oct. 28 council meeting, 29 speakers signed up to speak in person about the issue, according to City Clerk Pete Weichers.
Many acknowledged the limitations of municipal government while asking the city to do what it could to address residents’ fears.
Speakers described ICE as “dystopian,” and one compared its actions to the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Several speakers shared personal stories about how they or people they knew were affected by ICE arrests or the threat of arrest.
The discussion was often contentious, with speakers calling council members out by name and several outbursts during council deliberations.
Councilmember Marco San Antonio, whose parents emigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines, said he felt many discounted his immigrant story despite being the only council member of color.
“You heard a 90-second soundbite from the League of Women Voters and it was like, ‘Oh, this guy wants ICE,’” San Antonio said. “I don’t agree with everything ICE is doing. You saw something about me being MAGA. I’m not MAGA.”
He described ICE as a “necessary evil” but added, “I don’t agree with the tactics.”
“There’s instances where it’s like, ‘Damn, why the hell are they doing that?’” San Antonio said. “It hurts the community. It hurts what we are up here trying to protect.”
Councilmember Joy Lyndes, who initiated the council action, said that while she knew the city could do nothing to stop the federal government, she wanted residents to feel safer.
“People feel targeted and traumatized,” Lyndes said. “This is time sensitive because things have escalated in our community. Masked agents in unmarked cars are pursuing and apprehending our neighbors.”
Lyndes added that she had spoken with U.S. Rep. Mike Levin’s office about his discussions with the Department of Homeland Security.
“His office is spearheading several new and important actions to address this issue from his perspective,” she said. “What I would like to do is to complement some of the things that his office is doing.”
Ehlers agreed that the city should support Levin’s efforts to address residents’ concerns.
“I do believe that Mike Levin is the key because he is our congressional, our federal representative, but we need to help them,” Ehlers said. “We need to support him.”
The mayor added that he hoped residents would document ICE actions to promote transparency and accountability.
“We probably haven’t heard about every incident out there,” he said.
Ehlers added that discrepancies or inaccuracies in information coming from ICE could help inform the city’s next steps.
“I would love to be able to get to the facts there and find out,” Ehlers said. “If they’re making statements to us that are wrong, then let’s get the facts and let’s go sue them. Whatever we have to do, we take them to court over those kinds of statements.”
Deputy Mayor Jim O’Hara said it would be “immoral” for the council to tell residents that schools, city facilities or other places were safe spaces if that proved incorrect. He worried about taking further actions the city might be unable to enforce.
“If an executive order is only as good as the paper you print it on, it’s not really an executive order, it’s for show,” O’Hara said. “And I find acts like that to be theatrical at best and disingenuous and really detrimental to people that are supposedly trying to help.”
O’Hara called on Levin’s office to clarify immigration enforcement tactics but also criticized ICE.
“This is not the way to do whatever it is they’re trying to do,” O’Hara said. “Obviously after 18 months, if you’re still doing the same thing, you gotta change something because you’re obviously not getting the results you want.”
Councilmember Luke Shaffer said he had believed ICE’s initial goals were to target human traffickers and the worst criminals.
“I do not believe that the tactics are meeting the strategy by which the federal government is pushing forth,” Shaffer said.
Shaffer added that he would support law enforcement efforts to prevent riots but did not want Encinitas residents to grow accustomed to current ICE tactics.
“I don’t want residents to get used to masked men coming into our town and taking people away,” Shaffer said. “I don’t want anybody getting used to that. That’s not American, that’s not what we expect.”
The city has established a dedicated email address, [email protected], for residents to share information or concerns about federal immigration enforcement activity, including ICE operations. The city said submissions will help officials stay informed about activity and concerns affecting Encinitas residents.
Residents across North County have organized neighborhood patrols and shared sightings on social media to alert neighbors to immigration enforcement activity, as The Coast News reported Oct. 21. Among those efforts, the volunteer-run group North County Safe shares community reports of ICE and Border Patrol activity across coastal and inland communities, including Encinitas.
