California
Entries whose effect landed somewhere in California (CA) — a city, a county, a campus, a detention facility — whichever government acted. Federal conduct inside California counts here.
This is not the same set as California's jurisdiction page, which records the 13 entries where California's own government was the acting authority, wherever those events happened. The two overlap and neither contains the other: place and power are separate facts, and statewide acts appear there and not here.
57 entries · 27 places
One square per place, sized equally, coloured by how many entries landed there. Ordered most-documented first: a grid of equal tiles has no reading order of its own.
Los Angeles city 17 entries
Los Angeles County DA charged LAPD officer with 16 felony counts for recording colleagues' racist, sexist and homophobic remarks
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office charged LAPD officer Daniel Flores on July 31, 2026 with 16 felony counts of illegal eavesdropping for secretly recording 16 colleagues -- 122 recordings in all -- who made racist, sexist, and homophobic remarks, evidence he submitted to LAPD's Internal Affairs Division and the Los Angeles Police Commission. Flores faced up to 13 years in prison under the felony charges. On August 20, 2026, amid public criticism that the prosecution would chill future whistleblowers, the DA's office reduced the charges to misdemeanors and did not oppose a request for judicial diversion.
LAPD officers repeatedly restrained a hooded, handcuffed jail inmate who died minutes later
On July 15, 2026, Los Angeles Police Department detention officers at the Valley Jail Section used force on Jose Carlos Hoyos-Munoz three times during booking, including holding him face-down on a bunk with a spit hood over his head after removing his handcuffs. Roughly 20 minutes after the last use of force, officers found him unconscious and not breathing, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. LAPD released video of the incident in late August 2026, after Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass ordered an independent review of police-involved deaths.
LAPD inspector general audit found officers wrongly stopped 161 innocent people flagged by faulty license-plate-reader hot list
A Los Angeles Police Department Office of the Inspector General audit, released July 11, 2026, found that during a two-month review period officers acknowledged 161 automated license-plate-reader "hot list" alerts as accurate stolen-vehicle matches that were in fact wrong, generally because outdated data was never cleared after a vehicle was recovered. Although LAPD policy requires officers to verify an alert's accuracy before stopping a vehicle, the audit found this frequently did not happen, and the false hits routinely triggered "high-risk" stops against people who had done nothing wrong. The findings led LAPD to let its data-sharing contract with Flock Safety expire.
Los Angeles Police Department cited street vendors under anti-camping law that doesn't apply to them, exposing them to deportation
The Los Angeles Police Department issued written warnings and a criminal citation to street vendors near MacArthur Park under Municipal Code 41.18, an anti-camping ordinance, rather than the city's street-vending ordinance that actually governs them and does not restrict vending near parks. Street-vendor organizers, a city councilmember's office, and a civil-rights attorney said the anti-camping law does not apply to vendors at all, and LAPD declined to comment on its use of that code. A criminal citation, unlike the civil citation the vending ordinance authorizes, exposes vendors -- a population that includes noncitizens -- to prosecution and immigration consequences.
HUD suspended the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, cutting off the region's access to up to $241 million in federal homelessness funding
On June 11, 2026, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced the immediate suspension of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), the lead agency for the region's homelessness response, citing an inspector general investigation and findings of fraud and mismanagement. The suspension placed at risk roughly $241 million in Continuum of Care funding for the Los Angeles region and barred LAHSA from applying for the next grant round, giving the agency 30 days to request a hearing.
DOJ sends a federal prosecutor to observe the Los Angeles ballot count amid Trump's baseless fraud claims
On June 5, 2026, the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles, led by Trump appointee Bill Essayli, said it had opened "multiple election fraud investigations" into California's elections and dispatched an assistant U.S. attorney to Los Angeles County's vote-counting center. The move followed days of evidence-free claims by President Trump that Democrats were "rigging" the slow primary count for governor, Los Angeles mayor, and Congress, and inserted federal pressure into a routine state-run tabulation that local officials said was proceeding normally.
DOJ files its second 2026 antisemitism lawsuit against UCLA
On May 26, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the University of California for the second time in 2026, alleging UCLA was "deliberately indifferent" to Jewish and Israeli students during pro-Palestinian encampment protests in spring 2024, in violation of Title VI. The administration had earlier sought more than $1 billion in fines against the university before a federal judge intervened, and several DOJ attorneys have resigned from the underlying investigation, telling reporters the case was "fraudulent," a "sham," and driven by pressure to "find" evidence against UCLA.
State Dept revokes Iranian asylees' green cards on debunked Soleimani-relation claim
On April 3, 2026, ICE arrested Iranian asylees Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her adult daughter Sarina Hosseiny outside Los Angeles after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked their green cards in a public statement identifying them as the niece and grandniece of slain Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. A subsequent Drop Site News investigation reviewing Iranian birth records, identification papers, and family wills found no familial connection to the late general — a finding corroborated by Soleimani's own surviving daughters in Iran. The women remain held at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in San Antonio pending removal to Iran, where Hamideh, who has autoimmune hemolytic anemia, is reportedly being denied the transfusion treatment her condition requires.
DOJ sues UCLA over antisemitism, escalating a pressure campaign nine of its own career attorneys resigned over
On February 24, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division sued the University of California under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, alleging UCLA maintained an antisemitic "hostile work environment" for Jewish and Israeli faculty and staff. The suit was the latest step in a federal pressure campaign rooted in UCLA's tolerance of a 2024 pro-Palestinian encampment: the administration had already suspended $584 million in UC research grants and sought a $1.2 billion fine, which a federal judge blocked in November 2025 as unconstitutional. Nine career Justice Department attorneys assigned to the underlying antisemitism investigation had resigned, describing pressure to reach a preordained conclusion on a 30-day timetable. It was the first of two 2026 DOJ antisemitism suits against the university.
Top DOJ prosecutor in LA urged the public to feed false information to immigrant-rights hotlines
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California posted on X on January 18, 2026 that the public has a "First Amendment right" to call immigrant-rights hotlines and "provide inaccurate information," then shared a screenshot identifying specific rapid-response hotlines run by CHIRLA, ÓRALE, and Immigrant Defenders Law Center. The post came in response to Rep. Jimmy Gomez alerting constituents to federal immigration enforcement in Los Angeles's Fashion District, and one of the named organizations told reporters it was already experiencing an increase in "crank calls."
ICE agent shot citizen journalist Carlitos Ricardo Parias during Los Angeles arrest attempt; agency denied him counsel access and body-camera footage
On October 21, 2025, an ICE agent shot citizen journalist Carlitos Ricardo Parias in the elbow during an attempted arrest in downtown Los Angeles, after agents smashed his car window; a U.S. marshal was also struck. Prosecutors charged Parias with assaulting a federal officer, but a federal judge dismissed the indictment with prejudice in December 2025, finding the government denied him access to counsel while in ICE custody and missed a court deadline to release body-camera footage of the shooting.
Los Angeles Fire Department released Palisades fire after-action report edited to downplay leadership failures
The Los Angeles Fire Department, under then-interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva, edited multiple drafts of its official after-action report on the January 2025 Palisades fire to remove or soften language describing failures of city and LAFD leadership before releasing the final version to the public on October 8, 2025. Changes included softening a finding that pre-deployment staffing "did not align" with department policy on red-flag days into a claim that deployment "went above and beyond" the standard, and renaming a "failures" section "primary challenges."
ICE and CBP agents body-slammed 79-year-old U.S. citizen car wash owner during Van Nuys raid, held him nearly 12 hours without medical care
Masked federal agents from ICE, CBP, and DHS raided Valley Car Wash in Van Nuys, Los Angeles on September 9, 2025, and, per surveillance video and the owner's account, body-slammed and restrained 79-year-old U.S. citizen Rafie Ollah Shouhed after he tried to show them his employees' work authorization. Shouhed was handcuffed and held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles for nearly 12 hours without medical attention despite pleading that he had a heart condition, then released without charges. He suffered broken ribs, elbow injuries, and post-concussive symptoms of a traumatic brain injury.
Trump deployed 2,000 more National Guard to Los Angeles after protests end, directed ICE to target Democratic-run cities
On June 17, 2025, the Trump administration activated an additional 2,000 California National Guard troops from the 49th Military Police Brigade for deployment to Los Angeles, even as the downtown curfew was lifting and protests had largely subsided. On the same day, Trump posted to Truth Social directing ICE to prioritize deportation operations in Democratic-run cities — explicitly naming Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York — and reversed a June 12 pause on agricultural, hotel, and restaurant worksite raids.
U.S. Marines detained Army veteran Marcos Leao for two hours outside Wilshire Federal Building; no charges filed
On June 13, 2025, U.S. Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment — deployed under Title 10 authority to assist immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles — detained Marcos Leao, a U.S. Army veteran, outside the Wilshire Federal Building. Marines zip-tied Leao's hands behind his back and held him for approximately two hours before releasing him without charges. Legal experts identified the detention as the first known instance of active-duty military detaining a civilian during the Los Angeles deployment and cited serious Posse Comitatus Act concerns.
DHS agents forcibly removed and handcuffed Senator Alex Padilla at Noem press conference in Los Angeles
On June 12, 2025, FBI police officers and U.S. Secret Service agents physically seized California Senator Alex Padilla, dragged him from the room, and handcuffed him face-down outside after he stood to question Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem about immigration enforcement operations at her press conference at the FBI Los Angeles Field Office. Padilla was not arrested and no charges were filed; video showed him identifying himself as a senator before agents removed him. The incident drew bipartisan condemnation, with Republican Senators Collins and Murkowski calling it "disturbing," and Senate Democrats demanding a congressional investigation.
Trump invoked § 12406 to federalize California National Guard over governor's objection, labels LA protesters 'rebellion'
On June 7, 2025, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum invoking 10 U.S.C. § 12406 to call at least 2,000 California National Guard members into federal service, transferring command from Governor Gavin Newsom — who explicitly refused consent — to the Department of Defense. The memo labeled Los Angeles anti-ICE protesters as engaged in "a form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States," a characterization that carried no factual or legal basis. Two days later, Trump expanded the deployment with an additional 2,000 National Guard troops and authorized 700 Marines from Twentynine Palms, the first domestic active-duty Marine deployment since the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
San Diego city 5 entries
Capital & Main investigation revealed ICE and CoreCivic denied an asylum seeker medical care for a kidney infection at Otay Mesa
A September 8, 2026 Capital & Main investigation revealed that a Colombian asylum seeker held at the CoreCivic-run Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego went undertreated for a worsening kidney infection over roughly ten months, from a November 2025 report of heavy bleeding through an August 2026 flare-up. Her medical records document repeated denials and delays: a recommended ultrasound went unperformed for months, a May 2026 emergency-room visit found an abnormal urinalysis but recorded "no acute disease," and she was later hospitalized and diagnosed with pyelonephritis. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to requests for comment, and CoreCivic said only that it takes "any allegation" about medical care "seriously."
ICE barred Reps. Mike Levin and Sara Jacobs from interviewing detainees during unannounced Otay Mesa oversight visit
On May 12, 2026, ICE refused to let U.S. Reps. Mike Levin and Sara Jacobs interview detained immigrants during their unannounced oversight visit to the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, applying a new agency policy requiring members of Congress to identify detainees by name and obtain signed consent forms in advance. The lawmakers were allowed to tour the facility but blocked from speaking with the people held there, the second consecutive visit at which they were barred from detainee conversations. Beyond the memo, which called such visits "disruptive and resource-intensive," ICE did not respond to requests for comment.
ICE deported Oceanside father of a U.S. Marine without notice or a hearing, despite his deferred-action protection
On October 9, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Esteban Rios Sosa, an Oceanside, California father of a U.S. Marine, when he reported to a federal building in San Diego for what he had been told was a routine ICE check-in, and deported him to Mexico within 24 hours without notice or a hearing. Rios Sosa held deferred-action status tied to a pending U visa application, and he and his wife had already been briefly detained and released with ankle monitors three weeks earlier after being stopped at a Camp Pendleton gate while visiting their pregnant daughter, who is married to a Marine. A federal judge ruled in September 2026 that the deportation violated Rios Sosa's due-process rights and ordered the government to immediately facilitate his return.
San Diego County Sheriff's Office moved dementia patient, 82, from jail medical unit to solitary confinement; he died nine days later
On July 28, 2025, Karim Talib, an 82-year-old man with dementia who used a wheelchair and was incontinent, died at San Diego's Central Jail nine days after Sheriff's Office staff moved him from a medical observation unit into solitary confinement. Talib had been found incompetent to stand trial and declared unlikely to regain competency after five months at a state psychiatric hospital, but prosecutors sought a conservatorship to keep him jailed rather than release him, and sworn declarations from nearby detainees describe him lying unresponsive in his own waste for days before he was found dead. The county Medical Examiner attributed the death to heart disease complicated by a kidney infection.
San Diego County sheriff's deputy Jeremiah Flores fractured a handcuffed detainee's spine, then falsified his report
On August 29, 2024, San Diego County Sheriff's Office Deputy Jeremiah Flores shoved a handcuffed, non-resisting pretrial detainee headfirst into the wall of a courthouse holding cell, fracturing the man's spine and causing a head injury that required surgery. Flores rendered no aid, left the injured man on the cell floor for more than two hours, and wrote in his incident report that no force had been used. He was later convicted of federal civil-rights and records-falsification charges and sentenced to 57 months in prison.
Adelanto city 3 entries
ICE deports Adelanto hunger-strike organizer Kyon Swaso to Belize after no-notice out-of-state transfers
On June 12, 2026, ICE deported Kyon Shakeel Swaso — a Belizean national and lead organizer of the hunger strike at California's GEO Group-run Adelanto ICE Processing Center — to Belize, following a series of no-notice transfers to facilities in Texas and Louisiana that his attorneys say violated Central District of California General Order 26-05's advance-notice requirement. The deportation proceeded despite a pending Stay of Removal and Motion to Reopen. The removal came eleven days after Swaso met with members of Congress to report inhumane conditions at Adelanto; DHS disputes that a hunger strike is occurring and characterizes the removal as routine.
Detainees launch hunger strike over conditions at GEO Group-run Adelanto ICE complex
On May 19, 2026, at least 20 immigrants detained at the Desert View Annex — one of three facilities in the GEO Group-operated Adelanto ICE complex in Southern California — launched a hunger strike to protest custodial conditions, citing medical neglect, shrinking food portions, unsafe water, overcrowding, and retaliation against detainees who speak out. Their demands include due process and bond reform, adequate medical and mental-health care, nutritious food, accountability for deaths in custody, and the right to organize. The Department of Homeland Security denied that any hunger strike is taking place.
José Guadalupe Ramos-Solano dies in ICE custody at GEO Group-run Adelanto facility
José Guadalupe Ramos-Solano, a 45-year-old Mexican national, was found unconscious in his bunk and pronounced dead on March 25, 2026, while detained at the GEO Group-operated Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California. Other detainees said he had complained of overheating and difficulty breathing hours earlier and that staff did not respond until he was unresponsive. His death was the 14th known death in ICE custody in 2026 and at least the fourth at the Adelanto complex since 2025, prompting Mexico's Los Angeles consulate and two members of Congress to demand an investigation.
Camarillo city 3 entries
CBP and ICE agents detained U.S. citizen and Army veteran George Retes for 72 hours without charge during Camarillo raid
On July 10, 2025, Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained George Retes, a U.S. citizen and disabled Army veteran working as a security guard, as he arrived for his shift at a federal raid on Glass House Farms in Camarillo, California, breaking his car window, pepper-spraying him, and pulling him from the vehicle before holding him roughly 72 hours across three facilities without charge, an attorney, or contact with his family. The Department of Homeland Security said Retes "became violent" and was arrested for assault, but the government never filed a charge and released him on July 13, 2025. Retes sued the United States and individual federal officers in February 2026.
Federal agents shot legal observer six times with rubber bullets, deployed tear gas during Camarillo cannabis farm raid
On July 10, 2025, federal agents conducting an immigration raid on Glass House Farms, a cannabis facility in Camarillo, California, deployed tear gas and shot Ventura-based attorney Vanessa Valdez six times with rubber bullets despite her identifying herself as a legal observer. Valdez, left unable to see and forced to crawl to escape, has since filed a Federal Tort Claims Act claim seeking compensation for medical costs, lost wages, and emotional trauma. The Department of Homeland Security disputed the account, saying agents used pepper balls rather than rubber bullets, and only after protesters attempted to breach the perimeter.
ICE raid on Glass House Farms drove farmworker Jaime Alanís García to a fatal 30-foot fall
On July 10, 2025, federal immigration agents and National Guard soldiers raided Glass House Farms in Camarillo, California; farmworker Jaime Alanís García climbed onto a greenhouse roof to escape the operation and fell roughly 30 feet, breaking his neck, and died two days later without ever having been taken into custody. The Department of Homeland Security disputed that agents were pursuing him, while his family said his death was "not an isolated tragedy."
San Francisco city 3 entries
San Francisco Chronicle investigation revealed CBP held dozens of SFO detainees, including green-card holders, beyond 72-hour legal limit
A San Francisco Chronicle investigation published September 1, 2026 found that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has held at least 25 people beyond its own 72-hour detention limit at San Francisco International Airport through July 2026, 19 of them lawful permanent residents; one detainee spent eight days without a bed or shower, and another went without diabetes medication for eight days until paramedics were called. Rep. Kevin Mullin, whose district includes SFO, conducted an unannounced oversight visit the same day and said CBP officers acknowledged the extended holds reflect "a definitive policy shift from the Trump administration."
Federal court found ICE detained immigrants beyond 12-hour limit, denied medical care at San Francisco holding facility
On November 25, 2025, U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts of the Northern District of California found that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had routinely detained people beyond its own 12-hour limit -- some over 72 hours -- at its San Francisco field office at 630 Sansome Street, denying intake medical screening and prescribed medication and withholding beds and basic hygiene supplies while holding cells at frigid temperatures under continuous lighting. Pitts provisionally certified two detainee classes and granted a preliminary injunction ordering ICE to remedy the conditions immediately, in a suit brought by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, the Central American Resource Center of Northern California, and the ACLU of Northern California.
Justice Department fired San Francisco immigration judge Chloe Dillon amid purge of high asylum-grant-rate judges
The U.S. Department of Justice fired San Francisco immigration judge Chloe Dillon by email on August 22, 2025, giving no reason, amid a wave of firings of high asylum-grant-rate judges that coincided with a DOJ memo on scrutinizing judges' case-outcome statistics. Dillon's supervising assistant chief immigration judge had warned her months earlier that "the White House" was watching after she resisted a directive to grant all ICE requests to transfer cases to a different venue. In a whistleblower complaint filed September 10, 2026, Dillon alleged the firing came two days after she separately reported that ICE agents had unlawfully detained an unaccompanied minor who had just appeared in her courtroom.
Berkeley city 2 entries
Justice and Education departments found UC Berkeley Law discriminated against white, Asian applicants
On September 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights announced joint investigative findings that the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law violated Title VI by discriminating against white and Asian applicants in admissions. The departments said Black applicants had 5.8 times higher odds of admission than comparable white applicants in 2025, citing admissions data and the law school's use of race-identifying essay prompts. Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky disputed the findings, saying the school's admissions policy does not consider race.
The National Science Foundation suspended at least 18 UC Berkeley research grants over a disputed foreign-funding claim despite a court injunction
In early May 2026, the National Science Foundation suspended at least 18 active research grants held by University of California, Berkeley scientists, citing unspecified "foreign funding" concerns that affected researchers say do not apply to their projects. The suspensions were imposed despite a standing court injunction restricting such actions, and at least one grant had been canceled by NSF and restored by a court before being suspended again. Berkeley researchers, who have brought a class-action challenge, said they were given almost no information about what NSF considered problematic.
El Monte city 2 entries
CBP agents smashed a livestreaming bystander's car window and detained her for hours at an El Monte, California gas station
On January 30, 2026, federal agents responding to a Customs and Border Protection call surrounded U.S. citizen Maria Santay's car at a gas station in El Monte, California, and broke her window with a hammer while she livestreamed the encounter on Instagram and cried out that she was a citizen. Agents then drove her roughly 40 miles round trip to Santa Ana and back before releasing her from custody that evening; Santay says she was denied a restroom and made to urinate in handcuffs in a parking lot before her release.
El Monte, California City Manager Alma Martinez arranged a $150,000 compensation raise for herself in a closed-door 2025 vote
El Monte, California City Manager Alma Martinez arranged a closed-door City Council vote on May 14, 2025 that raised her total compensation from about $280,000 to nearly $430,000, including a 25% base-salary increase, car and education allowances, lifetime medical benefits, back pay, and 18 months' severance. The raise came as the city faced a roughly $5 million budget deficit and most other employees received only 5% raises; Mayor Jessica Ancona publicly called the deal a "blank check." Whistleblower Ed Rardin, a city code enforcement officer, filed complaints with the Los Angeles County District Attorney, the FBI, and the state Fair Political Practices Commission alleging Martinez engineered the raise after rejecting an independent compensation study's findings.
Sacramento city 2 entries
ICE agents attempted warrantless search of Sacramento immigration law firm, threatened to break in
On August 14, 2026, armed agents identifying as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrived at the Morris Law Group, an immigration law firm in Sacramento's North Natomas neighborhood, and demanded to search the office without producing a judicial warrant. Firm staff turned the agents away; one agent reportedly threatened to return at 3 a.m. and break windows to force entry. U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff announced they would investigate, and DHS confirmed on the record that agents approached the address believing it was a "target address" and departed once they learned it was a law office.
Judge found Border Patrol defied her injunction with boilerplate forms in Sacramento arrests
U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston ruled in an order unsealed April 1, 2026, that U.S. Border Patrol agents defied her April 2025 preliminary injunction barring detentions without documented reasonable suspicion and warrantless arrests without a flight-risk finding. In a July 2025 sweep at a Sacramento Home Depot, agents arrested 12 people — 11 noncitizens and one U.S. citizen — using essentially identical, boilerplate I-213 forms that failed to document the required articulable facts. She ordered agents to write signed, individualized narrative reports supporting each stop.
Santa Ana city 2 entries
DHS agents blinded two protesters with crowd-control projectiles at a Santa Ana immigration protest
On the evening of January 9, 2026, federal Department of Homeland Security officers in riot gear fired crowd-control projectiles into a crowd of demonstrators outside a federal immigration building in Santa Ana, California, at a protest held in response to the ICE killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis. The projectiles blinded two protesters, 21-year-old Kaden Rummler and 31-year-old Britain Rodriguez, each in one eye; Rummler required six hours of surgery and was left with skull fractures and metal fragments near his carotid artery. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin characterized the demonstrators as "violent rioters" who threw "rocks, bottles and fireworks," a claim video evidence did not support, and did not address either man's injuries or identify the type of projectile fired.
Border Patrol agents violently arrested Santa Ana landscaper and father of 3 US Marines outside IHOP
On June 21, 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents confronted Narciso Barranco, a 49-year-old undocumented landscaper with no criminal record, while he worked outside an IHOP restaurant in Santa Ana, California, tackling him and repeatedly striking him in the head and neck before taking him into custody. Barranco is the father of three U.S. Marines; DHS said he swung a weed trimmer at an agent and resisted commands, while video of the arrest shows no such attack.
Avenal city 1 entry
Avenal, California Mayor Alvaro Preciado and recalled council members continued governing after certified recall vacated their seats
On May 28, 2026, Avenal, California Mayor Alvaro Preciado and council members Leticia Gamez and Pablo Hernandez continued exercising the powers of their offices at a city council meeting held the same day Kings County certified an April recall election that, under California Elections Code section 11382, had already made their seats vacant. A fourth recalled member, David Reynosa, was absent. Preciado, Gamez and Hernandez, each recalled by wide margins, went on to formally vote to reject the certified results on June 11, 2026 and remained in office through the summer.
Brentwood city 1 entry
Brentwood, California police restrained 72-year-old Yolanda Ramirez during arrest; she died days later, independent autopsy ruled homicide
On September 26, 2025, Brentwood, California police officers responding to a family-dispute call handcuffed and restrained 72-year-old Yolanda Ramirez, allegedly slamming her head against a patrol vehicle and leaving her unattended in the back of the car for about ten minutes without telling arriving paramedics she had struck her head; she died October 3, 2025, of a brain bleed. The Contra Costa County Coroner attributed her death primarily to natural causes and found no significant trauma contribution, but an independent autopsy commissioned by her family found the cause of death was multiple blunt-force trauma and asphyxiation from police restraint and ruled the manner of death homicide.
Burbank city 1 entry
ICE detained Russian national with pending accepted green card petition at Burbank Airport
ICE agents detained Galina Bobreneva, a Russian national married to a U.S. citizen, at Burbank Airport on July 13, 2026, despite her marriage-based green card petition having already been accepted for processing with fingerprinting completed; DHS characterized her as having overstayed her visa, while her attorney maintains she was never out of lawful status. She was held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Facility for over two weeks before being released on July 29 on a $35,000 bond with an ankle monitor, with her immigration case still pending.
Costa Mesa city 1 entry
Costa Mesa, Calif. officer Robert Josett pleaded guilty to misusing police databases to track mistress, wife, and rivals
On April 14, 2026, former Costa Mesa, California police officer Robert Jay Josett, 35, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor unauthorized computer access and fraud, annoying and repeated phone calls, and contempt of court, after using the state CLETS database and the Costa Mesa Police Department's Flock license-plate-reader system between June 2023 and June 2024 to track his mistress, her romantic partners, and his own wife. He was sentenced to three years informal probation and a 52-week domestic-violence program, wore a court-ordered GPS monitor for nine months, and his POST certification review remains pending.
Gilroy city 1 entry
San José Spotlight investigation reveals DHS and ICE secretly built Gilroy-area ICE detention facility without required environmental review
In January 2025 the federal government leased a 24-acre agricultural parcel near Gilroy, California, and the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement proceeded to develop it into a detention and processing facility without conducting environmental review or notifying Santa Clara County or the public. Local officials and reporters first learned of the project in May 2026, when public records and later leaked blueprints revealed construction already underway and disclosed the facility's detention cells, processing areas, and capacity for up to 150 detainees.
Lompoc city 1 entry
Vandenberg Space Force security forces held invited journalists, troops at gunpoint despite escort
On August 17, 2026, Vandenberg Space Force Base's 30th Security Forces Squadron ordered invited journalists from four outlets and two military members out of their vehicles at gunpoint and handcuffed the two service members, despite the group having a public-affairs escort and an official invitation to a base ceremony. Base security raised barriers and sounded sirens, and the group missed the groundbreaking event they had been invited to cover. A Space Launch Delta 30 public-affairs spokesperson said the stop resulted from a "breakdown in communication" verifying the media's authorized entry.
Orange County county 1 entry
Orange County audit found health director dismissed conflict warnings, steered no-bid contracts to allies
An independent forensic audit released August 12, 2026 found that then-Orange County Health Care Agency Director Dr. Clayton Chau repeatedly dismissed internal conflict-of-interest complaints about county subcontracts flowing to a nonprofit where then-Supervisor Andrew Do's daughter worked, and separately hand-selected a friend's pharmacy for a county vaccination contract without competitive bidding. Then-County CEO Frank Kim was also alerted to the conflict but relied on a Do aide's assurances rather than independently verifying it. The audit is the second of four planned phases reviewing roughly $4.3 billion in Orange County contracts from 2019 to 2024.
Palo Alto city 1 entry
DOJ served a sealed grand jury subpoena on Lucile Packard Children's Hospital seeking transgender minors' medical records
On May 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice served a sealed grand jury subpoena on Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, demanding the identities, diagnoses, treatment histories, and parental consent forms of patients who received gender-affirming care as minors. Prosecutors obtained the subpoena in the Northern District of Texas, a venue with no connection to the California hospital, patients, or care, after at least eight courts had quashed the department's earlier administrative subpoenas for the same records. Affected families were given no notice.
Patterson city 1 entry
ICE agents shoot Carlos Mendoza Hernandez six times during traffic stop in Patterson, California
ICE agents opened fire on Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez, 36, during an early-morning vehicle stop near Interstate 5 in Patterson, California on April 7, 2026, striking him about six times, including in the jaw; he survived after multiple surgeries. ICE said he was a suspected 18th Street Gang member wanted for questioning in El Salvador and had tried to run over an agent — claims his attorney disputes, saying dashcam video and witnesses show he reversed to flee only after agents began shooting. After hospital release he was taken into FBI custody and indicted on federal assault charges, to which he pleaded not guilty.
San Francisco International Airport facility 1 entry
ICE agents violently arrest mother and daughter at San Francisco International Airport
On the night of March 22, 2026, plainclothes ICE agents forcibly arrested a woman, later identified by DHS as Angelina Lopez-Jimenez, and her roughly 10-year-old daughter inside San Francisco International Airport, holding the crying woman on the floor and wheeling her away in restraints while refusing bystanders' requests to identify themselves or show badges. About a dozen San Francisco police officers formed a barrier around the agents but did not intervene. DHS said the family was subject to a 2019 final order of removal and was being repatriated to Guatemala; the arrest coincided with a new federal deployment of ICE agents to U.S. airports.
San Jose city 1 entry
San Jose police officer fired for sharing Flock camera data with cousin, a domestic-violence suspect
San Jose Police Chief Paul Joseph announced on September 11, 2026 that the department had fired an officer for using his personal phone to access the city's Flock automated license-plate-reader database and share a vehicle's location with his cousin, who was the suspect in a domestic-violence case. The cousin used the information to locate the victim. The department placed the officer on leave, referred the matter to the district attorney's office for possible criminal charges, and changed policy to block personal-device access to the data.
Santa Barbara County county 1 entry
Wright invokes Defense Production Act to override California, restart Sable oil pipelines
On March 13, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order delegating his Defense Production Act authority to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who that same day ordered Sable Offshore Corp. to restart the Santa Ynez Unit and its offshore pipeline system along the California coast. The lines had been shut since the 2015 Refugio oil spill and remained subject to California regulatory approval; invoking the 1950 national-defense statute let the administration override the state hold, and oil resumed flowing on March 14. California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued days later, calling the order executive overreach that purported to authorize illegal oil transportation through state-regulated pipelines.
Santa Maria city 1 entry
ICE agents detained at least 92 people across California's Central Coast in unannounced holiday sweeps
Between December 27 and 29, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, joined by agents from the Camarillo and Los Angeles field offices, detained at least 92 people across Santa Maria, Lompoc, San Luis Obispo, Nipomo, Paso Robles and Santa Barbara, California, apprehending people at homes, workplaces, parking lots and shopping areas starting as early as 4 a.m., and in one case taking a man into custody from the San Luis Obispo County Jail lobby upon his release without presenting a warrant. At a January 2, 2026 press conference, Santa Maria City Councilmember Gloria Soto said local advocacy groups had documented roughly 150 detentions since the sweep began, about 87 of them in Santa Maria, and 805 UndocuFund characterized the operation as indiscriminate racial profiling of working-class Latino communities.
Shasta County county 1 entry
Shasta County voters approved Measure B, eliminating most mail voting and requiring photo ID, in conflict with state law
On June 2, 2026, a majority of Shasta County, California voters approved Measure B, a county charter amendment that eliminates most vote-by-mail, requires photo identification to vote, and replaces machine tabulation with full hand-counting of ballots. Unofficial results showed it passing with about 56%, pending the official canvass and certification — the point at which the amendment legally takes effect as county law. Civil-rights groups including the ACLU of Northern California say the measure violates state law, which reserves voter-ID rules to the state under SB 1174, and that ending most mail voting will disenfranchise county voters; litigation is expected.
Sunnyvale city 1 entry
ICE officers beat disabled Sunnyvale man Ulises Peña López unconscious during 2025 arrest, lawsuit alleges
On February 21, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested Ulises Peña López, a disabled carpenter, outside his home in Sunnyvale, California, and, according to a federal lawsuit filed in July 2026, beat him in front of his wife and young daughter before taking him to a nearby alley and continuing until he lost consciousness and had to be hospitalized. The suit says GEO Group and CoreCivic, the private contractors that ran the detention facilities where he was held for more than six months, failed to accommodate his disability, and that he suffered a stroke and a heart attack in custody that left him partially paralyzed. He was deported to Mexico in October 2025.
Vallejo city 1 entry
Interior Department rescinded Scotts Valley Band's casino eligibility without notice, days after donor-backed rival tribe's lobbying push
On March 26, 2025, the Department of the Interior rescinded its January 10, 2025 determination that the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians' proposed Vallejo, California casino site qualified for gaming, without giving the tribe notice or an opportunity to respond. The rescission came one week after lobbyists for the rival Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation — which donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration and later $2 million to the MAGA Inc. super PAC — asked Deputy Assistant Secretary Ken Bellmard for precisely that two-step rescission approach. A federal judge ruled on October 30, 2025 that the rescission violated the tribe's due-process rights and vacated it.
Ventura County county 1 entry
HSI conducts pre-dawn home raids on volunteers of Ventura County ICE-watch group VC Defensa
Before dawn on May 13, 2026, Homeland Security Investigations agents executed search warrants at the homes of volunteers of VC Defensa, a Ventura County, California immigrant-rights coalition that patrols neighborhoods to alert residents to ICE operations. Agents searched multiple locations, seized electronic devices, and briefly detained at least two volunteers, who were released the same day. The group's attorney called the operation "completely unconstitutional" and an intimidation tactic against protected organizing and said VC Defensa will sue; DHS said the warrants were part of an "ongoing investigation" and cited prior arrests of unnamed members, though no charges have been filed in connection with the searches.
Yosemite National Park region 1 entry
NOTUS investigation revealed Interior Department pressuring National Park Service to trade Yosemite land to a private developer
NOTUS reported on August 28, 2026, that National Park Service staff, under sustained pressure from U.S. Department of the Interior political leadership, have spent more than a year quietly working to arrange a land exchange inside Yosemite National Park for a company controlled by developer Kingsbarn Realty Capital, which would let Kingsbarn build a private access road into the park from its adjacent 83-acre parcel. Sources familiar with the discussions described the political pressure on Park Service staff as "very unusual," and the Park Service had rejected the same access request from the property's prior owner repeatedly over the preceding two decades. No final decision has been made, and Interior and Kingsbarn both said any exchange would proceed only through the normal legal and environmental review process.