Anti-ICE protests this week targeted a Modesto hotel owned but not operated by Stanislaus County Supervisor Mani Grewal.
Legal observers with the loose-knit rapid response network said they tracked federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to the Residence Inn on Dale Road on Tuesday morning. Protestors staged a “noise demonstration” as election polls closed that evening.
Agents renting rooms left the hotel Thursday, observers said.
“(Agents) are terrorizing our communities,” including Modesto and surrounding towns this week, said Bianca Lopez of Valley Improvement Projects.
Activists have been tracking and protesting the increased ICE presence across Stanislaus County for the past month. The Valley Watch Network, part of the Central Valley nonprofit Faith in the Valley, has posted at least half a dozen “Community Alerts” or “Be on the Lookout” notices about immigration enforcement agents in the county.
Surge in enforcement across county
The network’s rapid response hotline, which covers the Valley from San Joaquin to Kern counties, has seen calls spike within the last four weeks.
“In September for our hotline we had nearly 500 calls,” said Griselda Rojas, a community organizer with Faith in the Valley and Valley Watch Network. “In October, we received over 3,000 calls.”
Rojas said their team confirmed that ICE agents have been seen in Modesto, Empire, Ceres, and Waterford.
Another demonstration against ICE activity in the Valley is scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday in Tenth Street Plaza, 1010 10th St. in downtown Modesto.
ICE’s communications team did not respond to The Modesto Focus’ inquiry about detentions.
Their agents have been busy in the Valley, as part of a federal enforcement surge that started in October. Agents often scan license plates to match information in ICE’s database, say local observers who document agents’ activities.
Rojas corroborates this claim, and also believes these agents are utilizing license plate scanners to identify people.
“What we are seeing is that these vehicles are patrolling our communities,” Rojas said. “What they might be doing is that they are checking license plates and cross referencing it with immigration databases for them to know who they can potentially target, or if there are any type of deportation orders already in place.”
Supervisor Grewal applauds demonstrators
Demonstrators on Tuesday used shrill whistles, cowbells and megaphones to call attention to agents reportedly staying at the Residence Inn, where three black SUVs without license plates remained until leaving Thursday, observers said.
Grewal owns the land and building but has no control over hotel management or guests. That’s handled by American Hospitality Services Inc.
State and federal public accommodation laws require that hotels “honor valid reservations from all credentialed government agencies and law-abiding guests, and prohibit us from refusing service,” the company president, Rohit Ranchhod, said in a statement.
“As a first-generation immigrant myself,” Ranchhod said, “I deeply appreciate the concerns raised by members of our community and understand how sensitive this matter is for many local families.”
Grewal applauds the demonstrations, saying, “As the son of immigrants (from India) myself, this hits close to home.
“I’m doing everything in my power to support our local immigrant communities,” he told The Modesto Focus. “Though I don’t have control over who stays at my properties, I’ll do everything possible to make sure immigrant families feel protected.”
Grewal, a Democrat, was appointed to the county Board of Supervisors in 2020 and won election both in 2022 and in the June primary earlier this year.
Residence Inn is an official brand of Marriott International, whose media representatives did not respond to inquiries Thursday. Nor did those with Hilton Worldwide, whose properties include the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Modesto, where ICE agents also have stayed, according to the rapid response network.
Protestors say ICE used intimidation tactics
Protestors at the Modesto hotel say they’ve had their own run-ins with agents.
An ICE agent allegedly learned an observer’s identity from her license plate. She told The Modesto Focus he then drove from Empire to her home in Waterford to show “he knows where I live.”
The woman asked not to be identified, fearing for her safety. She said the show of intimidation left her shaking.
ICE and other federal agents have regularly gone to protestors’ homes during the Trump administration’s enforcement surge. The tactic has been reported across the country since the start of the year.
In another incident of alleged intimidation, another observer said an agent boxed in her car Wednesday in Empire so she could not drive away.
Rojas said observers have not seen raids on specific locations in the county, but have seen both targeted arrests and agents questioning people at shopping centers, gas stations, mini marts and food trucks, along with arrests of people who have deportation orders.
“They are targeting people who, quote unquote, fit the description of being an immigrant,” she said. “We’re seeing a little bit of both like targeted detentions and also just profiling folks.”
Garth Stapley is the accountability reporter for The Modesto Focus, a project of the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. Contact him at garth@themodestofocus.org.
Ximena Loeza is the bilingual communities reporter for The Modesto Focus, a project of the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. Contact her at ximena@themodestofocus.org.