Taft residents urge council to condemn ICE tactics and seek safeguards after weekend enforcement activity

Dozens of residents and community leaders at the Taft City Council meeting on a February 2025 Tuesday urged the council to condemn recent immigration enforcement actions they said swept through ZIP code 93268 and to take steps to protect residents, students and workers.

The comments were delivered during the meeting’s public-comment period and centered on alleged Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity the prior Sunday. Duane Klotz told the council the operation targeted people on their way to work and described confrontations he said he witnessed: “They were pulled over. They were sworn at, cursed, and questioned and finally when they couldn't find anything to probable cause they just got mad and slammed the door and let them go.”

Community leaders asked the council to use its influence, stop assisting enforcement actions that lack judicial authorization and make clear to federal agents that the city will not participate in what speakers described as racial profiling. Gladys Flores, program director for Centro de Unida Popular Benito Juarez, said the event left residents fearful for routine activities: “Our community was racial profiled. Our community was targeted… I don't think our community needs to be scared.”

Saul Acosta, president of the Taft College Associated Student Organization, described students skipping classes out of fear after the operation and asked the council to act to keep schools safe: “The right to an education should not be dictated by fear.” Daniel Rodela, a community organizer with Faith in the Valley, said local impacts included school absences and business closures, and urged the council to make a public statement and open dialogue with community groups. Rodela told the council that “over 30 percent of students from the top city and top union high school districts missed class” the day after the operation and said, based on his calculation, that absences could cost local districts roughly $60,000 in one day.

Several speakers asked the council to refrain from collaborating with federal immigration agents unless officers present valid arrest warrants or other lawful authority. Cecilia Alvarado, a Taft resident, described family history of past deportations and said residents worry that looks or language could trigger stops: “If people look just indigenous, why is there a witch hunt?”

Hector Hernandez, executive director of Buenavila Popular Rento Juarez, requested the city provide Spanish-language agendas and interpreters at meetings, citing Title VI and state and federal requirements for language access when a significant portion of the public is non‑English-speaking. “I didn't see one in Spanish,” Hernandez said of the meeting agenda, adding that many attendees asked for agenda copies in Spanish.

Mayor Noor thanked the speakers and closed the public-comment period, saying the council values the safety of the community. The council did not take formal action on the requests during the meeting; speakers asked the body to consider a public statement and further meetings with community groups to discuss next steps.

Speakers and community representatives said the chief harms they reported were fear-driven absences from school and work, business closures and increased community anxiety. Multiple speakers reiterated that the council’s authority over federal enforcement is limited, and they asked the city to use its influence to seek protections, to decline local participation in operations lacking warrants, and to provide language access at municipal meetings.