24 Protestors Arrested in Santa Ana Anti-ICE Protest

Over the 2025 Father’s Day weekend, the Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) deemed anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) demonstrations ‘unlawful assemblies’ and issued a public advisory directing people to avoid the downtown area due to heavy traffic and increased pedestrian congestion caused by protestors.

With its federal buildings and large Hispanic and Vietnamese immigrant populations, it is no wonder that Santa Ana’s Civic Center Plaza and downtown area are the hub of ICE protests in Orange County.

“At approximately 11:40 p.m., bottles were thrown at a police unit during the demonstration,” the SAPD posted on X on June 15. “Reports also indicated unsafe vehicle activity, vandalism, and fireworks in the area of 4th Street and Broadway.”

The protests spread to Orange County last week from downtown Los Angeles in response to the current Republican presidential administration’s crack down on undocumented residents.

The number of people rallying increased and intensified after U.S. President Donald J. Trump deployed the national guard.

“We’ve never seen a military force occupy our streets here in downtown Orange County,” said Second District Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento of the Orange County board of Supervisors.

In Santa Ana, the National Guard is part of the security around two federal buildings in the downtown area, according to Natalie Garcia, a Santa Ana Police Department public information officer.

One federal building is the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse while the other second is the Santa Ana Federal Building.

“Their main priority is just security for the buildings,” Garcia told OrangeCountyLawyers.com in a phone interview on Friday June 13. “When the National Guard did contact us that they were deploying their personnel to our city, we were prepared to respond. We’re doing the best we can.”

When Sarmiento went to the Santa Ana demonstration in front of the federal building on Monday, June 12, he was surprised by the amount of pepper spray being directed at the crowd.

“It was real aggressive with troops wearing full military gear, and people in fatigues carrying machine guns,” Sarmiento told OrangeCountyLawyers.com in a phone interview on Friday June 13.

The militarization of Orange County, according Sarmiento, is undermining due process for legitimate immigrants who are trying to become citizens.

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73% of Undocumented Immigrants in Orange County are from Mexico and Central America

The Migration Policy Institute reports that of the estimated 236,000 undocumented migrants who live in Orange County, 73 percent are from Mexico and Central America.

“People here are trying to comply with court proceedings and their administrative requirements to have to check in,” Sarmiento added. “I observed in the Santa Ana Immigration Court, ICE agents who didn’t have any sort of identification. They were masked and looked like vigilantes while waiting for people who were leaving their court hearings after trying to comply.”

OrangeCountyLawyers.com has learned that the SAPD arrested a total of 24 people last week since the since the protests began.

“The times we have used our less lethal ammunition, it’s in response to rocks, bottles, mortars, and fireworks being thrown at our officers and countywide partners,” Garcia added.

*Top Header photo created by Google AI
**Photo of Victor Sarmiento courtesy OCGov.com