Santa Ana police face lawsuit after firing on ICE protesters at federal request

Santa Ana police fired hundreds of rounds of bean bags, rubber bullets and tear gas at immigration demonstrators over four days last June after federal officers requested help, city officials revealed Tuesday, leaving the city facing a lawsuit, four injury claims and nearly $400,000 in costs.

The incident has drawn scrutiny over use-of-force policies and government transparency as Santa Ana — Orange County's largest city and its only sanctuary city — heads into summer facing a projected $19 million budget deficit.

City Attorney Sonia Carvalho told the city council Tuesday that the decision to deploy stemmed from a federal ultimatum. A federal attorney warned that "if your department cannot provide the security that we need, then we're going to bring in federal resources," Carvalho said, according to Voice of OC. That threat — of an outside law enforcement takeover — drove the city's decision to respond.

Police Chief Robert Rodriguez said Santa Ana's presence shielded the community from a harsher crackdown. "We have an obligation to respond. If we don't respond, they will send another agency to take over our city," Rodriguez said at the council meeting, according to Voice of OC. Mayor Valerie Amezcua reinforced the rationale: "If the sheriffs would have responded and not our agency, things would have been very different. When the federal government says, 'If you don't respond, we will send in resources.' That's a scary comment to me, because I know what that means."

Rodriguez drew a distinction between the first night of protests and subsequent nights. "We did not deploy any munitions until later at night. Those were all federal officers who deployed those munitions, so that was not triggered by the Santa Ana Police Department," he told the council. Carvalho added that an internal review found that those who fired on the first night wore green uniforms — not the blue of Santa Ana officers — a fact she said would factor into the city's legal defenses.

Two council members who said they were present at the protests described being caught in the response. Council member Johnathan Hernandez said he had been urging the crowd to stand down but was struck anyway. "People like myself were still shot with the bean bags. I was tear gassed," Hernandez said, according to Voice of OC. Council member Ben Vazquez raised concerns about targeting: "Many protesters reported indiscriminate firing into the crowds, and I'm worried that we were doing indiscriminate firing into the crowds."

Police Commander Jorge Lopez defended department conduct in a formal statement read at the meeting. "Enforcement action became necessary due to both unlawful and unsafe behavior within the crowd," Lopez said. "All enforcement actions and use of force were conducted in accordance with department policy, applicable legal standards and under consistent supervisory oversight," Voice of OC reported. Carvalho cautioned council members against discussing specific liability in open session, citing active litigation.

The nearly $400,000 cost of the four-day response arrives as Santa Ana projects a $19 million budget shortfall heading into summer, according to Voice of OC. One lawsuit and four tort claims have been filed by residents alleging injuries. In 2026, city police did not answer a separate Department of Homeland Security request for assistance at a federal plaza where a protester allegedly lost an eye.

The April 22 city council meeting came roughly 10 months after the June 2025 protests, marking the first sustained public accounting of the incident — though city attorneys constrained the discussion by citing ongoing litigation.