Federal immigration agents arrested a man near Park Dale Lane Elementary School in Encinitas Wednesday morning. This is the third confirmed immigration arrest near a San Diego County School this month.
Federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested a man at the intersection of Park Dale Lane and Village Parkway around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. The man was on his way to work.
A video shared by the North County advocacy group Alianza Comunitaria shows bystanders asking to see an arrest warrant identifying the man. In the background, an agent said, "It's a different guy."
Later in the video, a bystander said, "You said there would be a warrant." The ICE agent responded, "Not for him."
Another video shows agents forcing the man into a truck as his wife and young daughter cry out for him.
Encinitas Union School District officials condemned the arrest. In a letter to parents, officials confirmed the man’s daughter is a student in the district.
“We are alarmed and disturbed by this event and its impact on children and families,” the district’s letter said.
State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, and Congressman Mike Levin, D-49, criticized ICE for the arrest.
Blakespear called it, “inhumane, barbaric and lawless,” while Levin demanded ICE provide, “a full and immediate explanation.”
The agency sent KPBS a statement Wednesday night confirming the arrest and said the man was undocumented and from Guatemala. ICE said in the statement the man was alone in the car when he was stopped and that the woman and child seen in the video arrived at the scene as the arrest was taking place.
"ICE San Diego finds it unfortunate that an individual chose to insert a child into an active law enforcement situation," ICE said in the statement. ICE went on to criticize statements released by public officials "before the facts of this case were fully known."
As the videos circulated online, neighbors raised more than $25,000 so far to cover the family’s legal and basic living expenses through a crowdsourcing website.
“This working father and his family needs support from our community,” the fundraiser states.
Wednesday morning’s arrest is at least the third time federal immigration agents have arrested people near local schools. Similar enforcement tactics happened in Chula Vista and Linda Vista. News reports show similar arrests near schools in Oregon, Texas, Illinois and South Carolina.
In January, President Donald Trump rescinded a Biden-era policy that protected schools, churches and hospitals from immigration enforcement.
Earlier this week, advocates with Unión del Barrio and the Association of Raza Educators launched “community patrols” near schools aimed at shielding parents and students from immigration enforcement.
Volunteers conducting the patrols are trained to identify undercover ICE vehicles and broadcast their location so people can avoid the area.
