Community members, I’m sharing this concerning an incident that occurred immediately outside of our police headquarters building earlier afternoon (On Thursday, August 21, 2025). Videos are circulating on social media, along with various expected comments and interpretations, so I felt that it would be appropriate to share with you some facts about what occurred.

Jason Benites, Chief of Police, Oxnard Police Department

At approximately 12:28 PM this afternoon, ICE agents in two vehicles entered the public parking lot of our police station, and contacted an adult female (name withheld out of respect for privacy) at the nearby bus stop on ‘C’ Street. The bus stop is about 40 feet from our lobby entrance. According to videos depicting the encounter, the agents walked directly up to the woman, placed her in handcuffs, placed her in their vehicle, and drove away.

We looked further into the matter, and determined that the woman had in fact come to our station lobby at approximately 11:15 AM to comply with arson registrant requirements. The woman met with one of our detectives for approximately twenty minutes – at no point was she detained by us. Due to our livescan system being down (which is part of the registration process), she waited in our lobby for a short while, then left our building on her own accord. She went to the bus stop, and shortly after that ICE agents contacted her.


No Oxnard Police Department personnel were involved in the arrest, and we had not been advised or were otherwise aware of ICE agent presence. We did not notify or otherwise report her presence to immigration authorities.


We take issue with the location and manner of how the arrest was made. We had previously expressed our concerns with federal authorities about their using our publicly accessible parking lot as a staging point for their operations. Although we do not participate in immigration enforcement operations (as California law, under SB 54, also known as the Values Act), the optics of events such as this one are terrible, and place us in a position in which we are accused of collaborating with them. Our state law prohibits our participation, and we abide by that.


We will continue to work with our community partners, and keep you informed to the best possible extent. In the postscript of this message, I am including a list of a dozen points that we continue to emphasize. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions.


Jason Benites
Chief of Police
Oxnard Police Department

  1. We do not inquire about anyone’s immigration status.
  2. We do not participate in their immigration enforcement operations. Implications or assertions that the Oxnard Police Department engages in immigration enforcement operations is a mischaracterization, and should be recognized as such.
  3. ICE agents do not have free access to the interior of our station (that is, not beyond any point that the general public can access).
  4. We do not allow ICE into our facility to conduct their business.
  5. We do not provide ICE with information when they inquire if someone is in our custody.
  6. We do not provide ICE with information such as police reports, criminal history, or other documentation on people when they request it. If they were to request information on a court-filed case, we would require that they produce a subpoena.
  7. We do not afford ICE the use of our police station as a base of operations.
  8. We do not allow ICE to use our secure parking lot.
  9. We have previously contacted federal authorities, and requested that agents not use our police department to stage operations or conduct their business. (We have expressed additional concerns as well).
  10. This does not mean that ICE agents are precluded from using publicly accessible parking lots, calling our department, or coming to our station, if for whatever reason they feel threatened or are being followed by “community volunteer observers.” It is important to point out here that any person, regardless of whom, has that option.
  11. Our actions in these encounters between “community volunteer observers” and federal immigration authorities are guided by the need to keep the peace and maintain order. This means getting between the conflicting parties.
  12. When we are called upon in such circumstances, we not only have a duty to respond, but also a duty to investigate. These also apply to anyone. This generally includes asking the reporting party what happened.