Sen. Alex Padilla makes surprise visit to Sacramento ICE facility. What he found

Darrell Smith, The Sacramento Bee on Oct 22, 2026

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla made a surprise visit Thursday to a Sacramento federal immigration holding center to inspect conditions and seek answers about Tuesday’s collision involving an ICE agent and an observer in Woodland.

“I want to see the condition of people, the level of activity, whether (ICE) will allow access,” Padilla told The Sacramento Bee on Thursday, as he waited to enter the John E. Moss Federal Building on Capitol Mall and a line of people formed under a steady drizzle. “We’ve heard from families about the level of activity at different facilities. We’re constantly comparing with House members who are doing the same.”

The unannounced morning inspection of the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations holding center was at least the fourth visit to an immigration holding facility by the senator, a fierce critic of the Trump administration’s immigration policies and the tactics of ICE agents.

Padilla was forcibly removed and briefly detained by federal agents after confronting then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with questions during a June 2025 news conference about local immigration enforcement in his native Los Angeles as a federal enforcement surge peaked in the city.

Padilla told reporters Thursday that he and his staff were trying to visit “a lot of different ICE facilities,” including Sacramento’s. The senator waited with staff and a Bee reporter in the lobby before he was escorted alone just after 8 a.m. to the center at the end of a long corridor and closed off from the public.

Four people were being held at the center Thursday, he told reporters after his roughly half-hour visit. As many as 12 people can be held in the facility at any given time. Sacramento’s center wasn’t designed as a traditional detention facility, he said.

“I want to see myself,” he told reporters. “It’s important to ask basic questions. Do they have access to counsel?”

“I’ve seen better and I’ve seen worse,” Padilla told The Bee. “Clearly, it’s an old building that’s not set up for this purpose. It’s not a detention facility, it’s a holding center.”

Thursday’s visit came amid a surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations across California and the Sacramento region. The latest flashpoint was in Woodland, where an ICE agent’s vehicle collided with an observer during an operation on Tuesday, drawing condemnation from local leaders and Padilla, and an investigation by Woodland police.

Federal ICE officials denied Wednesday that the vehicle struck the observer, saying in a statement that the man jumped onto the vehicle’s hood to stage a collision. Woodland police disputed the federal agency’s account as “inconsistent” with video of the collision.

Padilla said Thursday that he and his staff continued to closely monitor increased ICE activity across the Sacramento region, including the Woodland collision and recent reports of ICE agents gathering in the parking lot of a Yuba City veterans’ hall used as a polling place, a presence confirmed by his office.

“If this was just about immigration enforcement, that would be troubling,” Padilla told The Bee. “On a political front, I’m not shocked at all that they’re trying to increase their efforts before an election to further instill fear and terror in diverse communities.”

Padilla also talked briefly with Giselle Garcia of the immigrants’ rights group NorCal Resist, which, along with Padilla’s office, has been monitoring ICE activity across the region and conditions at holding centers, including Sacramento’s.

“I admire and appreciate their commitment to this work,” Padilla said. “They’re the eyes and ears on the ground for people who cannot afford a lawyer, or a migrant who can’t defend themselves.”

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