KERMAN, Calif. (KFSN) — A man was released from an immigration enforcement facility in downtown Fresno on Thursday after he said ICE officers stopped him while he was driving home from work in Kerman.
Prudencio Rivera Rios, a farmer who said he came to the United States in 2023 and has permission to be in the country, told Action News that officers began following him before pulling him over near Dickenson and Jensen avenues.
“When I passed, I saw the plates were from Texas, and I knew it was them. They entered the road and started following me all the way to Dickenson. As I turned on Jensen to go home, they followed me for a mile. That’s when they started to turn on their lights,” Rivera Rios said.
Rivera Rios began recording the encounter. Video shows immigration enforcement officers approaching him in his car, with one officer tapping on the window and asking him to open it.
“Open your windows,” an officer says in the video.
At another point, an officer asks Rivera Rios, “Did you ever claim any asylum or have a U-visa here?”
Rivera Rios said he showed officers his documentation.
“I showed them my work card and they got a picture of it from the window,” he said.
Officers then told Rivera Rios they were going to smash his window. Rivera Rios again said he had permission to be in the country before a window was shattered.
Rivera Rios told Action News that officers placed him in a van with several other people and took him to the ICE office in downtown Fresno, where he was processed and eventually released.
“I didn’t come here illegally, I came here with permission. The worker there told me, ‘Why didn’t you say that?’ I demonstrated my papers and everything and they didn’t care,” Rivera Rios said.
Elsewhere in Kerman, surveillance video outside La Princessa Real Bakery captured a van pulling into the driveway and ICE officers surrounding the vehicle.
Kerman Mayor Maria Pacheco later arrived and confronted the immigration agents.
The encounters came as community members and watch groups in Central California reported an increase in ICE activity.
RELATED: Valley leaders clash as reports of ICE activity grow across the Valley
People gathered in Kerman on Thursday night for a meeting aimed at connecting families with resources.
“Our communities need to stick together and we are very resilient,” Pacheco said.
“ICE has been ramping up their operations for some time. We’ve funded them through the next several years and they’re proceeding to do the job by law they’re required to do,” Rep. Tom McClintock, a Republican representing District 5, said.
The Kerman community meeting was organized by local group Fuerza. Pacheco said Thursday night’s gathering would be the first of many.
Click here for video story from ABC 30
