U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested five people across San Mateo County on Tuesday, according to Faith in Action Bay Area, which runs the county’s official rapid-response hotline, and the San Mateo County Office of Community Affairs, NBC Bay Area reported, citing Bay City News.
Two of the arrests were in East Palo Alto: one around 6 a.m. at a Chevron station on University Avenue, and another at 9:45 a.m. on Woodland Avenue, NBC reported. The M-A Chronicle, which detailed the locations Tuesday afternoon, also placed those two East Palo Alto stops at the University Avenue Chevron around 6 a.m. and later on Woodland Avenue. Two more arrests were in the city of San Mateo, at Chavez Market (NBC identified it as Chavez Supermarket) at 7:45 a.m. and on South Idaho Street at 11 a.m. The fifth was at 10 a.m. in the parking lot of a Dollar Tree and Home Depot in San Carlos.
Faith in Action said it had confirmed all five arrests, was in contact with the families, and had activated emergency legal support. The group told NBC that ICE enforcement in the county has increased, with at least 16 people detained in the last 10 days. NBC, citing the same group, also reported additional arrests Monday in Redwood City, at a laundromat near a Safeway in Half Moon Bay, and at Eighth and Main streets in Montara, and said volunteers had seen ICE officers outside the Maguire Correctional Facility in Redwood City every day since Friday. ICE did not respond to NBC’s request for comment in time for publication.
The Tuesday arrests come as counties around the Bay Area have tried, with mixed results, to keep immigration agents from using county jails and parking lots as staging areas. Alameda County sent ICE a cease-and-desist letter this week over activity at Santa Rita Jail, and Santa Clara County has restricted public access to the Elmwood jail lot in Milpitas after agents were documented there last month.
Faith in Action urged anyone who sees immigration enforcement in San Mateo County to call the county rapid-response hotline, 203-666-4472, which the county lists as its official 24-hour line, and pointed people to resources at smcgov.org.