Immigration enforcement detained two people in a Sunnyside parking lot. At a news conference Monday, local police said they weren’t alerted ahead of time.
Immigration enforcement detained two people in a Sunnyside parking lot. At a news conference Monday, local police said they weren’t alerted ahead of time.
After federal immigration enforcement detained two community members in a grocery store parking lot Sunday, community members shared concerns and emotions at a meeting in Sunnyside.
Sunnyside officials said the city is developing a plan to work with local organizations to share information and resources for undocumented community members after President Donald Trump issued a series of orders last week to strengthen immigration enforcement.
The incident in Sunnyside took place in a prominent place — outside a Fiesta Foods supermarket that caters to the Latino community — around 1 p.m. Sunday, and it drew significant attention on social media. The community of 16,000 people is 86% Latino.
The Sunnyside city manager, police chief, mayor, council members and others in the community spoke at a news conference Monday.
In a separate interview, Lorena Avalos, an organizer with the United Farm Workers, said she knew the detainees through the organization and they are Peruvian farmworkers who had been working in the Yakima Valley.
Online records from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, indicate that one of the two is in ICE custody. The Yakima Herald-Republic does not have information about the other person.
ICE officials have not responded to questions sent by the Herald-Republic. The exact reasons for the detention are unclear.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it made 956 arrests nationwide Sunday and 286 Saturday. While some of the operations may not have been unusual, ICE averaged 311 daily arrests in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, The Associated Press reported.
Yakima County has an estimated 24,000 immigrants without legal status, according to the Migration Policy Institute — about 9% of the population. According to U.S. Census Bureau data from 2023, roughly 30% of Sunnyside’s population was born in another country.
Sunnyside city officials
At the Monday meeting Monday, City Manager Mike Gonzalez said the city was not involved with ICE operations Sunday and he encouraged people to stay informed.
“As a city, we have no control over federal actions,” he said.
Police Chief Robert Layman added that state laws prohibit Sunnyside law enforcement from working with ICE. He added that Sunnyside police officers enforce local and state laws and don’t have the legal authority to enforce federal laws, including those related to immigration.
Layman said he found out about federal immigration operations in Sunnyside on Facebook and then reached out to Homeland Security Investigations, who confirmed the presence of immigration enforcement and removal operations, or ERO, personnel.
“They don’t notify us ahead of time,” Layman said.
According to ICE’s website, ERO works under ICE.
“The Sunnyside Police Department does not cooperate with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement,” Layman said.
Mayor Dean Broersma said the city would not be investigating people’s immigration status. He added that undocumented community members are an important part of Sunnyside.
Councilmember Vicky Frausto added that the issue created strong emotions in the community. People are afraid they or their family members would be affected, she said.
Broersma and Frausto said people should not have to live in fear.
Frausto said the city would work to connect people with local organizations and resources so they can learn more about their rights and steps they can take.
Community members urged that kind of collaboration and representatives from several local organizations — Empowering Latina Leadership and Action, the Latino Community Fund, Nuestra Casa, Radio KDNA and a local church — said they would be interested in working with the city.
ELLA will host a “know your rights” workshop Feb. 8 with an afternoon session for those who wanted to learn more about what to do when interacting with ICE and a morning session for organizations that want to be involved.
Fear impacts community
Officials noted that ICE’s activities created fear.
“In a community of our size, it has real ramifications,” Gonzalez said. “People don’t go to school, people don’t go to work, people don’t go to stores.”
Frausto noted that people were staying home out of fear that ICE would arrest them if they left.
That’s something other community organizations have seen.
Avalos, with the UFW, said workers were more afraid to report workplace issues or abuses or stand up for their rights when ICE was active. It’s already hard to get workers to report those issues, she said.
“The workers, before, had a lot of fear,” Avalos said. “Now, they have more.”
Audel Ramirez, a staff member with the state Department of Labor and Industries, or L&I, said state officials are still supporting laborers. Worker protections under state law are still enforced, regardless of people’s immigration status, he said.
“Worker rights are not affected,” Ramirez said.
He also noted that the state government was taking steps to support undocumented immigrants.
Gov. Bob Ferguson signed an executive order Monday morning to create a response team for children separated from parents by deportation enforcement.
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