Federal immigration agents briefly appeared outside the San Joaquin Delta College parking lot, college officials confirmed Monday.
Alex Breitler, a college spokesperson, said campus police encountered officials who identified themselves as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in one of the campus’ perimeter parking lots.
When campus police approached, the ICE officers said they were not conducting immigration enforcement, Breitler said in a phone call with Stocktonia on Monday afternoon.
Breitler said he did not know why the agents were on campus or when the encounter with campus police occurred. He said the federal agents had since left the area.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not respond to Stocktonia’s request to confirm whether immigration agents were on campus and and if so, why they were there.
While the agents were not on campus, and only in a parking lot, Breitler said college staff still found their presence “very concerning.”
“We want all of our students to be able to come here and feel that they can get an education in a manner that is safe,” he said. “Anything that makes our students feel concerned or unsafe while they’re trying to get an education is, of course, a major, major concern for us.”
A Delta alert sent just before 12:30 p.m. notified the campus community of “ICE on campus.” Subsequent alerts and guidance on the college’s homepage advised anyone on campus to ask for the name and agency of any immigration official they encountered.
Breitler clarified that the college’s protocol asks the campus to direct any immigration agents to the superintendent-president’s office.
In a call with Stocktonia, Dan Wright, vice president of the college’s Board of Trustees, called ICE’s presence “all for show.”
“If they’re not going on campus to do enforcement, why are they there?” Wright said.
He added that the presence of agents “complicates” campus life, noting that it stops people from being active.
“I’m disturbed by it,” he said. “But we’re dealing with it just like the rest of the country and the rest of the state.”