On the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 13, the North Bay Rapid Response Network sent an alert at 8:45 a.m. that ICE agents had been spotted at Highway 116 and Templeman Road, between Forestville and Graton, the Sebastopol Times reported. At 11:05 a.m., the network said it had confirmed that ICE had arrested a Forestville resident.
A driver who tipped off the network told the Sebastopol Times he saw unmarked, heavily tinted SUVs and a van along Highway 116. He said he drove along the road yelling "La Migra!" and blowing an air horn to warn neighbors.
A restraining order the same night
In an Oct. 28 interview with KRCB, Monica Julian, executive director of Santa Rosa-based Vital Immigrant Defense Advocacy Services (VIDAS), described how the case was handled. VIDAS belongs to the Bay Area Habeas Network, which she said was started by the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area. The network is a group of nonprofits, private attorneys and pro bono counsel who file habeas petitions quickly after ICE detentions. Each organization takes one on-call day a week.
Julian said that, as she understood it, agents drew weapons and surrounded a car, and that the person in the car was the man's partner. She told KRCB he was detained in Santa Rosa rather than in Forestville, which differs from the earlier local account. Attorneys filed for a temporary restraining order that evening, and he was released and reunited with his family the next morning. She said he appears to have some forms of immigration relief available.
Why speed matters
Julian said that without the filing, he would still be in detention, likely far from family and lawyers and in front of a detained-docket judge. She said many recent cases have involved warrantless arrests and that federal judges are now sometimes ruling within hours. She also said she is seeing more enforcement in Solano County, with many detentions in Fairfield.
Related: San Francisco's funding for the Bay Area Habeas Network.