Reports of Federal Activity in Willits Appear Targeted, Not a Sweep
Reports of immigration enforcement activity in Willits on Friday prompted alerts from local schools and a rapid response network, but law enforcement and community sources said the incident appeared to involve a single person rather than a broad enforcement action.
The Mendocino County Rapid Response Network said it received multiple calls Friday morning about a possible ICE presence in Willits and sent observers to investigate. The network posted to social media that as of 9:35 a.m., the situation “seems to be a targeted incident regarding one person.” Anyone with information is asked to call the network’s confidential hotline at 707-621-8220.
Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall said his office has received reports of an alleged ICE arrest but has not been able to confirm any ICE activity. He said he is reaching out to contacts to determine what actually occurred.
Redheaded Blackbelt has contacted an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson and is awaiting a statement.
Willits Unified School District Superintendent John Baker sent a notice to families and staff Friday morning saying the district had been made aware of ICE activity in the community. Baker said ICE had not come to any school campuses and that all students and staff were safe. He noted the district has protocols in place for such situations and included the Rapid Response Hotline number in his message.
When contacted for additional comment, the Willits Unified School District declined to comment beyond Baker’s written notice.
The district’s notice drew mixed reactions. A poster on the Willits Patriots Facebook group criticized the school for including the rapid response number, saying the district should “step the fuck aside” and let federal agents do their jobs, and suggested organizing a protest outside the district office. Many others, however, shared the district’s warning and the rapid response network’s information, saying the precautions were appropriate.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
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IMHO:
Remember that the family that deports together… stays together.
Where is that darned middle-finger emogi???
LOL funny and Ironic. You D man…………………
Not an original thought… ran across it on the web.
Yes!!
ICE ICE BABY. Let them take the criminals and gangsters and rapists and murderers and toss these monsters over the border. Anyone who supports the illegal invasion of America is committing treason.
Rich white dudes invaded everywhere.
Since when are 4 year olds committing crimes?
White dudes like you are the ones commitying treason and are not patriots. Freedoms are for all.
So if ice is targeting criminals, wheres the info on the crimes these people have been found guilty of? 85% of those taken by ice have no criminal record.
Why are all the folks being taken mainly black and briwn? There are literally millions of asian folks here illegally for example.
The preidents childrens mom was not a legal citizen which, under ice regs, makes his kids “illegal” do why are they not being deported???
Cant pick and choose, move to another country if you dont value freedom you usa hating non patriot.
Illegal aliens broke the law the moment they entered our country without permission. They ignored our borders, our sovereignty, and the rule of law. DHS and ICE have issued numerous warnings and even offered to pay for their return home, yet many still refuse to leave. After being ordered by the President and law enforcement to self-deport, those who remain here illegally deserve zero sympathy or leniency.
They’ve had every chance to do the right thing and go back. The time for patience is over. Those who choose to stay should be dealt with firmly and roughly if necessary—to send an unmistakable message that our laws mean something and that this kind of blatant disregard for America will never be tolerated again. Enough is enough.
Entering the country without permission is a misdemeanor. Most everyone agrees that if you come in and commit violent crimes or other felonies, you should be deported. But if folks come to this country seeking a better life and are willing to work hard and be a good person, we should welcome them and find a way to make them legal. We are a nation of immigrants, not blood and soil. Why is cruelty such an important pillar of the Republican Party these days?
says a guy with an ‘ethnic’ name like that … carry your papers, pal
Juan Lorenzo sounds Portuguese. Portagees are a fine race of people! They`re welcome here any time and Im even friends with a few.
You can always tell when youre in the Portagee part of town by the brightly painted houses and neat, clean yards that are decorated with abalone shells. This is much more attractive than the junker cars and empty liquor bottles some other people use to decorate their properties.
That last name is a very old one around here, as are a few others. Like over a century if related. But also to answer the comment above that would be birthright citizenship. If you’re born on US soil, you are a US citizen even if your mother is not. Coming here specifically near or at the end of a pregnancy in hopes to gain citizenship for your newborn is what is being contested.
While I agree with you 100%, my sarcastic point was that none of that matters any more. “Lorenzo”? Sounds Mexican, take him away and let the detention folks sort it out. We have a quota to fill.
Welcome to Meathead America, Senor Juan – you voted for it. Better carry your passport, but don’t be disappointed when they throw it away and toss you in the wagon anyway.
Yeah, some of those with “Mexican” sounding names that are actually Italian or Portuguese or hell…Native American because there’s an apostrophe or two in them get harassed and that’s people I know with generational families here. Some are supportive of stronger immigration rules, but not Trump himself. They just need a facilitator to help keep their own jobs AND ICE off their butts. A lot are highly educated and tech savvy and get real pissed at ICE or Customs officials for things that are easily checked on a database, or know how to process paperwork, or have little knowledge of what civil rights they just shredded. Those departments seem to fail having an educated workforce in their opinions.
Actually ‘Lorenzo’ has its origins in the Iberian peninsula, either Spain or Portugal.
Even if they are only coming for one person, that is too much.
TooTooToo much………………
There are a few serious criminals among the undocumented. If they’re coming on a felony warrant, no problem. I’d hope they weren’t there to bust somebody for a 12 year old drunk&disorderly that had been adjudicated.
Hell yeah. As a Mexican, I voted for this.
Follow the law if you want to be here or be physically removed.
Surely the leopards will never eat YOUR face.
I don’t use catnip scented cologne.
Still a Mexican tho, got a plan for proving you’re not that kind of Mexican?
Because we don’t do due process anymore, and good luck with your Habeas challenge, DoJ has been gutted and the courts are backlogged as far as the eye can see.
Funny how the feds can’t be bothered to do anything when local cops are robbing people on highway 101 or downloading child porn. Pathetic. The people cheering on ICE need to be run out of this community. Move to Texas. We care about our neighbors here.
dear willits worker,
California is USA. Texas is USA All of are states. I think you would be better off in Canada 🍁. This guy might have been a pedophile or a robber which I almost can guarantee you he was. The majority of Americans want is done. It was voted on. I think you should leave.😄😳
Or at least be quiet.
……………………………………………….waaaaaawaaaaaaawaaaaaaaa………………………..
Can’t be bothered? You have to be referring to the two Rohnert Park cops that were prosecuted by the DOJ and convicted in Federal court. BTW sentencing is next week (May 6).
Bear in mind too, the US attorneys office that prosecuted these guys has since been gutted under Trump, along with the rest of the mass exodus and firings from DOJ.
Hello? Of course they do if you bothered to notice the people in federal custody for those things. It seems though that your complaint is that they haven’t arrested people your politics wants arrested.
Normally, a freakout of this magnitude requires a helocopter overflight.
I’m pretty sure ice is focused on cartel crime, to much push back from the public. Over 40 have been arrested in California. The gulf cartel is mercenaries, literally trained military cartel. I would like them to stay on their side.
Of course no one wants the murderers or rapists coming to our country. Lord knows we have plenty of our own we need to deal with. However, if they want to get the criminals out, get the cartels the hell outta here. Better bring the Army cuz ICE ain’t gonna get it done.
79,384 fentanyl deaths 2023 to 2024. Nationwide.
Thanks China
It’s time for ICE to come to Humboldt and Mendocino Counties and do what local leaders won’t: clean up the illegal alien cartels that have entrenched themselves here since the cannabis boom days and send them home.
These counties in the Emerald Triangle are overrun with illegal grows tied to Mexican drug cartels. Many of the workers and operators are illegal immigrants who stayed or came specifically for this black market work. They don’t just grow pot—they bring hard drugs like fentanyl into our communities, fueling the overdose crisis that’s devastating families. Humboldt and Mendocino have seen tragically high overdose death rates, with sharp spikes in fentanyl poisonings in recent years.
Beyond the drugs, these operations bring violence, human trafficking, environmental destruction, armed guards, and intimidation. Even worse, many of these individuals are criminals wanted in Mexico and South America for serious crimes—murder, rape, child abuse, child molestation and more. They fled justice in their home countries, hid out in remote cannabis gardens here, and left our rural communities vulnerable to predation, theft, and chaos.
Here is a list of the primary Mexican and South/Central American-origin gangs known to operate in northern California:
Major Prison/Umbrella Gangs
Nuestra Familia (NF) — Northern California-based prison gang; controls many Norteño street gangs.
Mexican Mafia (La Eme) — Influences Sureño gangs statewide, with operations and associates in the north.
Norteños — Dominant street gang alliance in northern California (Bay Area, Sacramento, Humboldt, etc.).
Sureños — Southern-origin alliance with active presence and sets in northern California.
Notable Transnational/Street Gangs
MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha) — Salvadoran/Central American gang with cliques in the Bay Area (e.g., San Francisco Mission District) and other northern areas.
Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) / Cartel affiliates (e.g., Sinaloa-linked groups) — Heavily involved in illegal cannabis operations and drug distribution, especially in rural northern counties like Humboldt, Mendocino, and Trinity.
These groups include numerous local cliques and subsets. Norteños and Nuestra Familia are the strongest in the north, while Sureños/MS-13 represent southern/transnational extensions. They are documented in FBI, DEA, and California law enforcement reports.
American citizens and legal residents deserve safe streets, clean forests, and protection from imported crime and drugs. Enough is enough. Support ICE enforcing our immigration laws, raiding these illegal operations, and deporting those here unlawfully. Rule of law matters—especially in places like Willits, Eureka, Fortuna, Covelo, Ukiah, and the hills in between.
Our communities first. Deport the cartels and criminals now.
Agree remove the infidels
Agree remove the infidel criminals
In Humboldt the grows of 2000 were generally white kids from Orange County.
Our old school local guys here were still planting 50 plants under cover and worrying about the feds while a wealthy white college kid from Orange County would cut an acre or two and plant a couple thousand without fear, I.e. The Green Rush.
Let me get this straight: the Mendocino rapid response group is an early warning Network for protecting lawbreakers? At what point does civil disobedience become treason?
Contrary to some opinions, no one is rescuing slaves or smuggling Jews out of WW2 germany.
Also notice the strong financial incentive for the educational system to look the other way and take more tax money to support non-citizens students.
This is why we can’t have nice things in California.
We reported the “Willits Rapid Response” network to ICE, Department of Homeland Security and FBI this morning. I am sure now feds are looking into this illegal organisation as a terrorist network
Oh my, how we throw around the world “terrorist” these days.
You can disagree with the politics, but there’s a much stronger argument for calling them a “First Amendment Network”. After all, what are they up to if not protected speech?
“We” throw around words like “racist, fascist and xenophobe” with great abandon too. In ths case it seems that Mendoceno Rapid Response group didn’t bother with much of any care about spreading their own brand of bad information much less worry about the people who need protecting from illegal immigration they want to protect. First Amendment keep government from calling such people out but that is not a bar to private citizens who equally have First Amendment rights from objecting to your politics anyway.
Violent agitators who deliberately use or encourage violence, organize networks to harass and intimidate law enforcement officers, and actively seek to disrupt lawful police operations are not protesters—they are terrorists.
This is not protected speech or peaceful assembly. Encouraging illegal aliens to refuse compliance with lawful orders—such as stepping out of a vehicle when directed—is reckless and dangerous. It escalates situations unnecessarily, increasing the likelihood of forced entries, smashed windows, and greater harm to everyone involved.
The only right illegal aliens have in this country is the right to self-deport. Anything beyond that is a privilege extended by the American people, not an entitlement to defy our laws.
There is a local Facebook page where locals are posting faces and locations of Illegal Aliens in Mendocino County I hear , Great News! Time to protect our communities from illegal alien invaders. Report, REPORT… REPORT!
Honestly who cares if they’re here or not I for one I’m glad to find out that they’re finally here. Illegals should go back to their own country I have no problem with that. I don’t care what they’re working at. I don’t think people understand the word illegal means illegal and they broke our law coming into our state. Is a federal law and so yes they can be deported. They should have asked permission to come in but they did not.
I don’t care if it’s targeted or a sweep. It’s still wrong to incarcerate people without due process. If you’re having fun being boisterous and mean, have a care. That stuff adds up and will eventually poison your soul, your relationships, and all you hold dear. These are peoples lives. In the not too distant future this will be a majority Latino state and then the shoe will be on the other foot.
Illegal aliens should not receive full due process in this country because they deliberately bypassed all due process to get here. They crossed our border illegally and uninvited, without any background checks, screenings, or legal permission. Law-abiding immigrants follow the rules and wait their turn. Those who invade our country reject our laws from the very first step, so they have no moral or legal claim to endless hearings, appeals, lawyers, and taxpayer resources before being removed. Their only right is to self-deport immediately.
Party Crasher Analogy;
Imagine crashing someone’s private party uninvited, sneaking in through the back, then demanding due process when the owner tries to throw you out. You overstay, settle in, and claim it’s unfair to remove you. No reasonable person would accept this. The same principle applies to our nation. The United States is not an open house for illegal invaders. Americans have the sovereign right to decide who enters and stays. Rewarding illegal entry with protections that lawful immigrants never demanded only encourages more lawbreaking and weakens our country.
IF there is no due process, then you don’t know whether they are illegally here are not. You or someone you care about could be grabbed up and sent to a foreign country even though you are a legal citizen. Due process protects everyone.
You want to oversimplify the situation. You love insulting rhetoric. I hope this attitude works out for you. People who love and support you will eventually grow tired of your lack of empathy and mean spiritedness, if that hasn’t happened already. This not a garden party, it’s about real people’s lives. No need to be condescending.