A pickup truck with tools and lunchboxes still inside, and a workday that never finished.
That's what community volunteers found after two men were detained by immigration agents last week in this construction site in a North County neighborhood.
The incident comes as ICE data shows more than 16,000 people were apprehended in San Diego county between January 20, 2025, and April 1, 2026. A period of just over 14 months.
In response to the uptick in detentions, some volunteers have formed community patrol groups to document immigration enforcement activity and help families after detentions.
One north county volunteer, who asked not to be identified because he fears retaliation, told me members do not interfere with federal operations. Instead, they observe enforcement activity, alert the community when detentions happen, and connect families with legal resources.
"Anytime the community comes together to support one another, I think we're doing what we're supposed to do," Arielle golden, who lives on the same street where last week's detention happened says.
She says the incident was a wake-up call for many neighbors who didn't realize immigration enforcement was happening so close to home.
"It makes you question what's really happening and kind of opens your eyes to what the community is going through," Golden says.
The department of Homeland Security defends its enforcement efforts.
In a statement, a DHS spokesperson tells ABC 10 News, that the department is carrying out President Trump's immigration agenda by targeting people in the country illegally, adding that nearly 70% of ice arrests are of people who have been charged with or convicted of a crime in the United States.
"It's a scary time for a lot of people, especially it's not even just people that are undocumented," Tammy Lin with USD's Immigration Clinic says. "It's also people with status that we're seeing being swept up in these arrests and raids. What it's done is really enable our communities to come together and say, 'we want to protect every one of our neighbors.'"
Lin says her clinic regularly helps families understand their rights, connects them with trusted legal resources, and assists them in locating detained loved ones. She adds that can take time, because it may be up to 24 hours before someone appears in ice's system after being taken into custody.
As immigration enforcement continues, Lin says being informed and prepared, even if that just means memorizing one family members phone number, can help families navigate an unexpected detention.
ABC 10 News reached out to DHS to confirm the detention on July 23rd, but did not hear back before the story's airing.
