“The all-white car is not ICE” immigration enforcement causes paranoia in Southern California, police department urgently clarifies
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has recently been enforcing the law frequently in Southern California, causing the community to be suspicious, and there have been many incidents of mistaking the local police’s white unmarked vehicles for ICE vehicles, which has even affected other work of the police. The San Bernardino County Police Department and the Fontana City Police Department both spoke out on the 19th, emphasizing that local police departments do not participate in immigration enforcement, and called on the public not to affect the safety of police duty due to misunderstandings.
The San Bernardino County Police Department posted on social media X: “All white vehicles are not ICE.” The department revealed that there were two recent incidents in which police officers were mistaken for ICE law enforcement while performing official duties in unmarked white vehicles, becoming targets of public attacks. In one case, they were even forced off the road. The police department explained that unmarked vehicles come in a variety of colors and models, and are used for local police tasks, not immigration enforcement. Please do not misunderstand and affect the police department’s work to ensure community safety.
San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus issued a statement emphasizing that local police departments do not participate in immigration enforcement and assured that “their primary mission is to protect all community members, regardless of immigration status.”
Fontana Police Chief Michael Dorsey wrote to the community on the 19th, saying that some social media had mistakenly identified local police officers as federal immigration enforcement officers, which had caused unnecessary conflicts between police officers and residents in the city. He emphasized that according to California law, police protect and serve all community members, regardless of their immigration status. He said: “No one of any immigration status needs to be afraid to report to the police, seek assistance or cooperate with the investigation. Immigration status has nothing to do with the law enforcement of the local police department.”
He also said that public safety will only be more secure when all residents feel safe and respected. Trust is the key to effective law enforcement, and the police work hard to maintain this trust every day. At the same time, the public is called on to allow police officers to perform their duties without interference to avoid misunderstandings that endanger the safety of police officers and related personnel.
Currently, federal immigration law enforcement officers are stepping up raids on illegal immigrants in daily wage labor workplaces and gathering places in Southern California, including Pasadena and Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where ICE appeared this week.
