Sacramento Border Patrol arrests were terrifying. Were they illegal? | Opinion
Andrea Castillo screamed in terror and rage as her husband, Jose, was descended upon by men wearing masks and U.S. Border Patrol uniforms.
“Leave him alone!” the Sacramento resident cried to agents as she recorded his detainment Thursday morning in the parking lot of a Home Depot store on Florin Road in south Sacramento.
One masked agent moved toward Castillo, cursed at her and pointed at her what appeared to be mace before turning away. “Why are you going to mace me? He is a U.S. citizen,” she yelled.
Federal agents later confirmed that Juan Castillo is a U.S. citizen. The Sacramento Bee reported that he was arrested for allegedly “obstructing/impeding federal officers and vandalism of government property.”
Along with Castillo, 11 people described as undocumented immigrants were also arrested.
“If he weren’t brown, he wouldn’t have been questioned,” Castillo told Bee reporters. “It’s not about legal or illegal. It’s about how you look.”
But it very well may have been illegal, too.
ICE may have violated a court order
In an April case brought by the United Farm Workers and the ACLU, a federal judge in Fresno ruled that federal law enforcement officers can’t arrest people without a warrant.
“You can’t just walk up to people with brown skin and say, ‘Give me your papers,’” U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston said in April.
As The Fresno Bee reported: “The ruling, applicable in the Eastern District of California, is part of a federal lawsuit filed against U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Border Patrol.” (The Eastern District of California includes Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield, Stockton, Vallejo and Fairfield.)
“Multiple courts have affirmed it is not lawful to stop someone based on their race or their proximity to a location such as an agricultural work site or Home Depot,” said Elizabeth Strater, National Vice President and Director of Strategic Litigation for the United Farmworkers Union.
“Whether or not this (action in Sacramento) violates the injunction, we want to review all the facts,” Strater said. “But the impacts on communities are clear: These actions are intended as terrorizing. These are terror tactics. They don’t mean bad guys; they mean anyone who is brown and working class.”
It’s also unclear whether Thursday’s incident in Sacramento will be subject to legal challenges.
“If they’re going to detain people, they have to have reasonable suspicion for doing so,” said Assemblymember Maggy Krell, D-Sacramento. “They have to document the facts and circumstances surrounding the stop. They have to provide that based on this order.”
Krell released a statement calling the enforcement action at the Home Depot a “blatant abuse of power meant to spread fear across our immigrant communities (that) does nothing to advance public safety.”
Masked men spread fear, inspire copycats
The practice of law enforcement wearing masks is currently legal, said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Berkeley’s School of Law, but some legislators in California are trying to change that.
Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, has authored Senate Bill 627 — known as the No Secret Police Act. It would prohibit law enforcement at all levels, except undercover officers, from concealing their faces with masks or gaiters, and require them to clearly identify themselves.
Could Wiener’s bill be enforceable? “It’s unclear what courts will do, Chemerinsky said. “I think the law (if enacted) should be upheld, but I could see the courts going either way.”
Another bill, SB 805 introduced by Sen. Renée Pérez, D-Pasadena, would strengthen laws against police impersonators and require law enforcement to clearly display their names or badge numbers. Police impersonation has been on the rise since the implementation of ICE tactics, sanctioned by the federal government.
In North Carolina, a man was arrested for allegedly impersonating an ICE officer and for sexual assault after he threatened to deport her if she refused to have sex with him; and in Florida, a woman was recently arrested for allegedly impersonating an ICE officer and kidnapping her ex-boyfriend’s wife, while masked.
Both Senate bills recently passed in their respective committee hearings and will head next to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
“As the Trump administration expands the use of secret police tactics, SB 627 and 805 boost transparency and support public safety by bolstering public trust in law enforcement,” Wiener and Pérez said in a joint statement.
What happened in south Sacramento on Thursday was a transgression of American values. We should never condone the arrest of anyone in this country based on the color of their skin, their accent or their location.
Agents of the federal government descending like invading armies in American communities is horrifying enough. But that these agents are masked adds a level of intimidation and fear that is spreading beyond immigrant communities.
Indeed, these raids recall dark chapters in both American and California history when Latino people were rounded up and deported, including American citizens.
This story was originally published July 17, 2025 at 4:53 PM.
