ICE Arrests in a Close California House District Have Prompted Accusations of Voter Intimidation
by Jerome London · Thought CatalogUpdated 6 minutes ago, October 31, 2026
Some young US citizens in California’s Central Valley are afraid to vote because they worry it could expose relatives without legal status to immigration agents, local farmworker Maribel Ramirez says. The fear comes as arrests climb ahead of a closely contested House election in California’s 22nd congressional district.
Preliminary Department of Homeland Security data show Bakersfield’s immigration arrests rose from about 1 a day for much of 2026 to nearly 10 a day in mid-October. In nearby Wasco, a town of 26,000, ICE arrested at least 7 people within a few days. The United Farm Workers union says hundreds of California farmworkers have been detained in recent weeks.
The district, which includes Bakersfield, is 73% Latino. Polls have put Democrat Randy Villegas slightly ahead of Republican David Valadao, who’s served 6 terms. Their race could help determine control of the House in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Villegas called the arrests a “very clear attempt to try and intimidate our communities before this election.” He’s also criticized Valadao for voting to triple ICE’s budget.
Valadao acknowledged “the fear and uncertainty immigration enforcement has created for families throughout our communities” and urged the Trump administration to focus on people who threaten public safety. He’s said ICE is targeting criminals, while also saying the agency has gone too far in some cases, without giving examples.
An internal email announced the planned California surge to agents in early October. A US official, speaking anonymously because they weren’t authorized to discuss it publicly, said the White House directed the operation. Small teams have moved between agricultural towns, rather than the large deployments seen in cities such as Chicago and Minneapolis.
The official said some arrests at workers’ homes or along their commutes stem from employee information obtained through audits of local businesses. Lawyers, advocates, videos and court records describe arrests near schools, outside homes, at intersections and in parking lots and gas stations.
Ramirez says some eligible voters fear putting their immigrant parents at risk. She’s urging US citizens to vote.
For residents afraid to go out, some Bakersfield businesses offer to bring purchases to their door at no charge, says barber shop owner Ana Valencia. She says fewer people are out on the streets. Valencia voted early “because I don’t want ICE here, or anywhere really.”
UFW national Vice President Elizabeth Strater says most of the farmworkers detained recently have no criminal records, and some have authorization to work legally.
One detained mother has a 3-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son. She’s cared for them alone since their father’s sudden death earlier this year. A relative says agents arrested her and her brother while they were unloading shopping on a day off from farmwork in Kern County.
Their lawyers’ federal court petition says agents were searching for someone else and only established the siblings’ identities after handcuffing them. It says neither has a criminal record. The mother came to the US as an unaccompanied minor more than a decade ago; her brother arrived as a toddler.
The 3-year-old was at daycare when her mother was arrested. Her brother was away on a school camping trip.
According to their relative, the boy cried for his mother when he returned and learned what had happened. His younger sister asks whether her mother’s calling whenever the phone rings.
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