ICE has arrested more than 400 from Central Valley prisons under Trump
ICE has arrested at least 422 individuals from Central Valley prisons and jails through administrative transfers since President Donald Trump took office.
One facility — Avenal State Prison in Kings County — accounted for 133 ICE of the arrests, or 32% — the most at any San Joaquin Valley-based penitentiary.
The Fresno Bee analyzed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest data obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Deportation Data Project, a UC Berkeley Law School initiative. This data reflects when ICE arrests someone, whether that arrest results in a decision to detain the person.
While California’s sanctuary state laws restrict cooperation between ICE and local law enforcement agencies, state prisons can cooperate with ICE on a limited basis.
The ICE arrest data, available through March 10, shows that these individuals were apprehended at about 24 different city police departments, county jails, and state or federal prisons and civil detention centers across Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced and Tulare Counties.
More than half, or 224, were classified as “custodial arrests” that typically indicate an arrest at or following a transfer from a state or local jail or prison, including federal prisons. Another 180, or 43%, were arrested under the “Criminal Alien Program,” a program in which ICE places detainers — or requests for 48-hour holds — on individuals currently in federal, state or local law enforcement agency custody who ICE believes are eligible for removal or deportation from the U.S.
Of these ICE arrests from Valley prisons and jails, 94% had criminal convictions, while the rest had pending criminal charges or immigration-related offenses. Eighty-five percent were considered to be the highest “Level 1” ICE Threat Level, typically reserved for those who had committed aggravated felonies or two or more crimes or felonies, each punishable by more than one year, according to ICE.
A majority, or 307, of these incarcerated immigrants were from Mexico, followed by Guatemala (25), El Salvador (23), Honduras (18) and India (5).
These prison and jail arrests only account for about 16% of the total 2,586 ICE arrests in the six-county region over the same period. A majority of the arrests did not have specific locations on where an individual was arrested, but indicate they were arrested in the general Bakersfield or Fresno areas.
According to the Deportation Data Project, “street arrests,” and arrests of individuals with no criminal history, have grown exponentially under the second Trump administration. As of February, 74% of the people held in ICE detention centers throughout the state had no criminal history, according to a Sacramento Bee analysis of public data.
ICE did not respond to a request for comment.
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says it will not hold an individual past their scheduled release date if ICE declines to pick up or a release occurs as required by law. Since 2015, ICE has picked up more than 18,000 people from CDCR facilities.
In response to a request for comment, CDCR Spokesperson Terri Hardy reiterated the department’s previous public statement about its interactions with ICE, saying the department “works with a variety of external law enforcement and government agencies to ensure public safety and meet all legal requirements.”
Prior to every scheduled release to parole, CDCR reviews each individual’s case for state and federal holds, warrants, and detainers, including any ICE detainers, Hardy said.
“CDCR has procedures in place to protect the rights of individuals who receive ICE requests. These include providing a consent form that informs individuals of their right to decline an ICE interview or to have an attorney present, and issuing a ‘Notice of Detainer’ to notify individuals of any ICE detainer placed on them,” Hardy said.
ICE Arrests at Central Valley jails, prisons
The ICE data obtained by Deportation Data Project includes some details on arrest locations, referred to as “apprehension site landmark.” This can either refer to the arrest location or a place near the arrest and is thought to be the most geographically-specific information on ICE arrests.
The second-highest number of prison arrests took place at Federal Correctional Institution, Mendota, a medium-security federal prison in west Fresno County.
Meanwhile, 48 people were arrested from Corcoran State Prison in Kings County and 28 from Valley State Prison in Madera County.
Of the individuals arrested from prisons or jails, a majority have already been removed, deported or voluntarily returned to their countries of origin.
This story was originally published July 7, 2026 at 11:41 AM.
