Fear and Misinformation Spread in Fresno Despite No Major ICE Operations

In a crowded banquet hall in Fresno, California, nearly 100 members of the local Southeast Asian community gathered on a Friday night in late January to voice growing concerns about immigration enforcement. The meeting, hosted at The Fresno Center, brought together representatives from the area’s Khmer, Lao, Mien, and Hmong communities amid rising fears of aggressive immigration actions similar to those recently carried out in Minneapolis.

“We were left with no homeland,” explained May Gnia Her, executive director of Stone Soup Fresno, a non-profit serving the local community. Her, who is Hmong, highlighted the unique circumstances of Hmong-Americans, many of whom came to the United States as refugees beginning in the 1970s after fighting alongside American forces during the “Secret War” in Laos.

During the Vietnam War, thousands of Hmong people lost their lives supporting U.S. military operations, and hundreds of thousands were displaced from their communities. Decades later, many have become naturalized citizens, while younger generations born in the U.S. have birthright citizenship. Despite these legal protections, community members expressed profound anxiety about potential deportations under a second Trump administration.

Democratic Congressman Jim Costa, who attended the meeting, heard firsthand accounts of residents afraid to leave their homes and concerns about family members with criminal records facing deportation despite having served their sentences. “There was a sense of: we live in America, we’ve done right, we follow the rules. We sacrificed 300,000 of our own people to be here, and now we have no protection,” Her recounted.

Costa acknowledged the community’s concerns but could not offer guarantees of protection from deportation. He noted that Democratic attempts to reform Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through legislation have largely stalled in the Republican-controlled House. In a later statement to KVPR, Costa emphasized that Democrats are focused on regaining control of Congress in the midterms, with community input shaping future policy.

Local law enforcement agencies provide little clarity about potential changes in federal immigration enforcement. Representatives from the Fresno Police Department and both Fresno and Madera County sheriff’s offices confirmed they don’t cooperate directly with ICE but couldn’t verify whether federal immigration officials have increased their presence in the Valley.

This information vacuum has led some residents to take matters into their own hands, posting photos and videos on social media allegedly showing ICE agents in the community. While some footage likely does capture federal agents, many videos actually show local law enforcement operations. The Merced County Sheriff’s Office recently clarified that videos claiming to show ICE operations actually captured a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation operation.

“It’s causing more uncertainty and fear amongst the community,” said Gregorio Matiaz, an immigration program manager with Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño. The anxiety was compounded when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services abruptly canceled a Fresno naturalization ceremony in January, though it was later rescheduled.

Part of the confusion stems from ICE agents’ often nondescript appearance, as they frequently wear plain clothes and face masks. While federal agents are known to operate in the San Joaquin Valley, they typically detain individuals during scheduled check-ins rather than through community raids seen elsewhere.

To combat misinformation, organizations like Faith in the Valley have established the Valley Watch Network to verify reports of ICE activity before issuing alerts. “We have a team of legal observers across the eight counties where minute that we receive the information, they’re activated, and they go and verify to confirm or dispel the activity,” explained Nora Zaragoza-Yañez.

The issue has created unusual political alliances. High school students staging walkouts in protest of ICE have found themselves aligned with Fresno’s Republican Mayor Jerry Dyer, who advocates for local control to maintain community trust, though he has praised the Trump administration’s border security measures.

Community organizations have stepped up to fill information gaps. Stone Soup Fresno recently conducted a “Know Your Rights” workshop that drew a diverse audience. “We know that the questions are there, we know that the need is there,” Her said.

Many residents still remember a Border Patrol operation in nearby Kern County a year ago that resulted in 78 arrests and caused dramatic drops in school attendance and agricultural field work. That operation is widely considered a blueprint for immigration enforcement actions later implemented in other parts of the country, heightening concerns that similar measures could soon reach Fresno.