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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents reportedly targeted a residential complex in Mountain View on Sunday, Jan. 26, less than a week after President Donald Trump took office.
The Mountain View Police Department told the Voice that it had been informed at 8:15 a.m. on Jan. 26 that ICE agents would be in Mountain View on Calderon Avenue that day. A police spokesperson said they did not have more information about the immigration enforcement, as they were not involved in the operation.
ICE did not respond to requests for information about its activities in Mountain View.
A Mountain View resident told the this news publication that immigration authorities raided a condominium on Calderon Avenue on Jan. 26. It is unknown if individuals were detained at that time, according to the source.
In San Mateo County, the sheriff’s department said it does not report any ICE sightings, according to a sheriff’s office spokesperson.
In 2021, former San Mateo County Sheriff Carlos Bolanos ended his department’s cooperation with ICE on release transfers following public backlash and a TRUTH Act Forum where residents overwhelmingly opposed the practice. Previously, the county led the Bay Area in ICE transfers, with 15 in 2020. Bolanos initially defended the policy but later said maintaining public trust was more important. County leaders and advocates praised the decision as a victory for immigrant rights and community safety.
In an update posted on X, ICE said it had made 956 arrests in the U.S. on Jan. 26, with many media outlets reporting in the days following that there had been raids targeting immigrant communities in major U.S. cities.
On the day after Trump was elected for a second term, California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued specific guidelines for all state institutions, including courts, K-12 schools, healthcare facilities, college and universities, labor offices, libraries and shelters.
They include descriptions of the types of waivers, warrants and subpoenas an immigration officer might present when trying to gain access to institutions or documents. Outside of a federal court warrant, most of them do not automatically grant special permissions to immigration enforcement officers.
Bonta has also addressed community members about their rights as immigrants.
According to a legislative bulletin by the National Immigration Forum, a nonprofit that works on immigration policy, the Trump administration has directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement to meet daily arrest quotas of 1,200 to 1,500 individuals as part of its mass deportation strategy. President Trump’s administration is already preparing the Guantanamo Bay Navy base in Cuba as a detention center for what he described as “the worst criminal illegal aliens.” 
This is not the first time that the agency has come to Mountain View to enforce the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants. In 2017, ICE raided an apartment building on Escuela Avenue and detained a young man. A month later, two more people were arrested as part of a federal sweep that had targeted Bay Area cities. In 2019, ICE detained a Mountain View fruit vendor outside his home.
Last November, the Mountain View Police Department issued a statement saying it would not participate in federal immigration sweeps or detain or arrest anyone based on their citizenship. MVPD also does not ask for the immigration status of crime victims, witnesses or other individuals who contact them for help, according to the statement.
However, MVPD has interacted with ICE agents and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in investigations involving significant criminal activity like firearms smuggling, according to the statement.
This story will be updated.
BCN contributed to this story. Pulse Editor Michelle Iracheta contributed to this story. Pulse Reporter Simmerdeep Kaur contributed to this story.
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