HSI conducts pre-dawn home raids on volunteers of Ventura County ICE-watch group VC Defensa

Before dawn on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) executed search warrants at the homes of volunteers of VC Defensa, an immigrant-rights coalition in Ventura County, California. The group organizes "copwatch"-style community patrols that alert residents to immigration-enforcement operations and connects affected families with legal aid. According to the organization, agents searched multiple locations — including an office associated with the group in Oxnard — specifically targeted and seized electronic devices, and briefly detained at least two volunteers, all of whom were out of federal custody by later that day. The Oxnard Police Department confirmed that DHS had notified it of operations in the area but provided no further detail.

VC Defensa's attorney, Reem Yassin, called the searches "completely unconstitutional" and "an intimidation tactic being used against people who are exercising their right to organize and protect their community," and said the group would take legal action. Organizers framed the operation as retaliation for their accountability work and vowed to continue. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that HSI had "executed several search warrants on individuals associated with an anti-ICE organization," asserting that "several members of this organization have been previously arrested for ambushing federal law enforcement and destruction of government property," and that the matter "remains an ongoing investigation."

The pre-dawn searches and device seizures targeted volunteers whose protected activity is monitoring and publicizing immigration enforcement — implicating the targeting of government critics, the surveillance dimension of seizing organizers' devices, and the chilling of protected First Amendment activity. DHS's public justification rests on prior arrests of unnamed members rather than on charges tied to these searches; as of reporting, no charges had been filed in connection with the operation. One detained volunteer, Leo Martinez, had previously been the subject of a contested October 2025 federal detention in which local police body-camera footage was later reported to contradict agents' account. Whether any charges issue from the stated "ongoing investigation" remains to be seen.