Ontario community demands a stop to immigration raids and transparency from local officials

The supermarket chain Stater Bros. confirmed that ICE officers entered one of its stores in Ontario on Monday morning. Videos shared in social media showed chaos and confusion among customers and employees at that moment. 

Immigration officers entered unannounced and informed the store manager that they were conducting surveillance on an individual at a nearby donut shop in the same shopping plaza, said Charlotte Wall, Stater Bros. spokesperson. 

“According to the agents, the individual entered our store, prompting them to follow him inside,” said Wall. “No detainments occurred.”

The incident happened at about 10:16 a.m. when rapid-response volunteers – groups reporting about ICE presence – were notified. 

Department of Homeland Security (DHS)  Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said via email that ICE attempted to arrest Carlos Gutierrez Caroenas, an undocumented person charged with domestic battery and driving with a suspended license.

“When Carlos Gutierrez Caroenas exited the donut shop, ICE officers clearly identified themselves and approached him. The criminal illegal alien assaulted the officer by throwing hot coffee on the officer’s face and arm, causing severe pain,” said McLaughlin. “ICE law enforcement chased him on foot to Slater Bros. Market, where management obstructed the arrest by refusing to allow officers to search the store’s bathroom—letting the criminal free.”

A witness, identified as Steph, said she spoke to the man who was shaking. He told her he threw the coffee at the officers because he was scared. 

“They [ICE] are making it out to be that the man was dangerous. That’s a lie. These ICE people looked all over the store for this man, they were all told not to come in that they had no right,” said Steph. “They did not care. It broke my heart to see all that. My own dad is from Mexico and I’m afraid that this might happen to him.” 

Questioning the police presence 

Minutes before, other videos showed an arrest close to the store by ICE agents with Ontario Police Department (OPD) presence. According to the videos, the person arrested is a US citizen. 

Community activists and residents accused OPD of engaging in the ICE arrest, violating California law SB 54, which makes California a sanctuary state. This means local and state authorities or resources can’t be used to assist federal agents on immigration proceedings unless there is a specific valid reason. 

Javier Hernandez, director of the Inland Coalition for Immigrants Justice (IC4IJ), said labor unions, community members and residents of the city of Ontario are demanding two things: illegal raids to stop and transparency from local authorities. 

“A judge already said that these operations cannot continue as they are happening now, where, again, ICE  is showing up and just going after people,” said Hernandez outside of the Stater Bros supermarket at a press conference Monday afternoon. “This happens to be a corner where there are workers, jornaleros that do stay here looking for jobs, and this is why they were targeted.”

The group also demanded an explanation from the City of Ontario and the OPD and the reason for their presence when the operation began and why they were engaging with an arrest made by federal agents. 

Businesses encouraged to take action

The group said there is a valid concern on the safety of people, mainly when there are agencies that go into businesses without warnings or transparency, such as judicial warrants. They said in cases like this one customers and employees are left in the dark without knowing what’s going on. 

Luis Suarez, Ontario resident and small business owner, said they are tired of week after week seeing enforcement operations in their community going after their family members or neighbors.

He recommended businesses to be prepared – unlike Stater Bros .– and have a protocol whenever ICE enforcement enters their facility.

“ICE going inside of Stater Bros., not only to the public area but to the back warehouses, is signaling that they are lawless, that there's no more limits to the terrorizing of our communities,” said Suarez. “But once again, as communities, we have to stand together to make sure that we are creating a sanctuary for our own people, for everyone here in Ontario,” he said.

In response to the accusations, OPD said Monday at about 9:45 a.m. officers responded to a report on the 500 block of West Holt of an assault of a federal law enforcement officer. 

“Our officers responded to the scene and confirmed that the individuals involved were federal agents acting in an official capacity as they were actively attempting to apprehend a wanted individual,” said Ermes Maqueira, corporal with OPD. “This represented the entirety of our department’s role in the incident.” 

Ontario tried to deny ICE’s presence

The City of Ontario has been involved in controversy due to its denial of ICE’s presence. Last month, during a city council meeting, Ontario Mayor Paul Leon dismissed concerns of ICE’s presence. He responded to a 14-year-old resident’s concern by saying he is Hispanic, but he doesn’t walk in fear of being detained.  

“To think that they are coming after you just because of profiling the way you look, I just haven’t seen that happen in this town yet,” he said.

Later, he apologized, saying that he just wanted to calm people’s fear. 

However, images showed more people being detained in Ontario, including landscapers and day labor workers. 

CALÓ News contacted the City of Ontario for comment, but hasn’t received a response yet.