In California’s Central Valley, ICE Swung a Red District Blue

In California’s Central Valley, some unexpected citizens lined up behind a progressive upstart: A police officer who requires the abolition of ICE. A millennial who as soon as chose a Republican congressman.

They discovered themselves amongst advocates of Randy Villegas, a Democrat who ousted long time incumbent Republican Rep. David Valadao in a district controlled for years by conservatives in California’s Central Valley.

With Democratic success throughout the country, California’s 22nd Congressional District is the type of traditionally red fortress where progressive policies might discover brand-new purchase.

Villegas’s course to the basic election mirrored that of other progressive prospects charting a brand-new identity within the celebration. Working on policies such as Medicare for All, attending to cost, declining business contributions, and stopping the circulation of weapons to Israel, the 31-year-old beat a moderate Democratic state assembly member backed by the celebration’s facility in the June primary.

Villegas’s opposition to ICE in a district that is 70 percent Latino or Hispanic significant the sharpest point of contrast with Valadao, who safeguarded the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant project and notoriously said “It is what it is” on the argument phase last month when continued the problem. Valadao declared “a lot” of the people caught by ICE in the Central Valley in current weeks have rap sheets, regardless of research study revealing the bulk of those apprehended by ICE absence criminal convictions.

It was Valadao’s position on migration that the majority of animated Central Valley citizens who spoke to The Intercept.

“I’ve never ever seen him withstand something I feel is outright,” stated Raul Castro, 53, a Fresno County probation officer who is disturbed with Valadao’s absence of determination to oppose Trump on the ICE raids rising through the location in current weeks. “I simply do not appreciate individuals like that.”

While basing on the front patio of his home in a middle-class residential area in northwest Fresno, Castro regreted ICE’s targeting of immigrants based upon their look, language, or tasks. He spoke up versus migration representatives pulling individuals from the street and into labyrinthine detention centers where civil liberties supporters have actually reported an absence of access to fundamental needs such as tidy water and appropriate health careCastro as soon as supported ICE, when asked whether he would support eliminating the firm entirely, he stated yes.

“If you asked me that exact same concern, ‘Hey would you eliminate ICE?’ I ‘d state, ‘No, ’cause they’re doing things to ensure our nation is safe. I wish to reside in a safe Fresno, safe county, safe city,'” Castro informed The Intercept. “But now, wait a minute, perhaps that’s not what I believed it was going to be.”

Villegas informed The Intercept he wasn’t amazed to hear he had actually won the assistance of an anti-ICE police officer.

“I do not discover it unexpected since I believe ICE has actually made it a lot more challenging for regional police to perform their tasks and their work– and everyone is seeing the indiscriminate profiling going on,” Villegas stated at a Fresno park rally to support last-minute canvassing efforts.

Villegas himself does not support eliminating ICE however rather has actually required extensive reforms of the firm. The policy position makes Villegas rather an abnormality amongst his progressive peers, who are riding a wave of leftist energy into Congress, a few of whom consist of “Abolish ICE” amongst their project platforms.

While holding crucial recommendations from prominent democratic socialists Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Villegas has actually likewise turned down the socialist label, choosing “populist,” regardless of efforts by the Republican nationwide celebration to weaponize the term versus him. Unlike a number of his fellow progressives, Villegas is likewise among the couple of who is running in a traditionally red district. And he’s positive citizens are not captured up in the ideological subtleties and wants to rather cut through them.

“People are fed up with a company who is unaccountable, individuals are fed up with a member of Congress who is unaccountable, who does not even have public city center,” Villegas stated. “We are worthy of much better than that in the Central Valley, and I believe that’s why our messaging is resonating throughout the political spectrum.”

Such reach throughout the political spectrum is likewise evidenced in citizens like Aram Easter, 33, who was born and raised in Fresno. He does not enact every election, however cast a tally for Valadao a years back when his district formerly covered Fresno, mainly since he purchased the vision of somebody with regional Central Valley roots (Valadao was born and raised in the close-by Hanford). He likewise concurs with some elements of Trump’s program, such as constructing the border wall. He drew the line on migration enforcement.

“You got individuals tearing individuals’s households apart,” Easter stated. “My household immigrated here– I have Black and Mexican household– I’m not with them overly-aggressively doing it.”

Because early October, ICE raids have actually ended up being more common in the area, with more than 200 individuals apprehended by authorities throughout the rise, according to the regional newsroom FresnolandComparable upticks in ICE have actually happened just recently throughout the state, consisting of Los Angeles and San Diego. Citizen rights companies in the Central Valley have actually taken notification and are seeing the raids as an effort by the Trump administration to reduce the vote, specifically in a crucial race in the 22nd District.

“This timing of the uptick in ICE is not a coincidence,” stated Marisa Moraza, political director at PowerCA Action, which did independent expense work to support Villegas’s project. “It’s not a coincidence that this begun at the start of October when citizens got their tallies in the mail.”

The raids have actually likewise reduced get-out-the-vote efforts, Moraza stated. Last month, the group needed to stop briefly in-person canvassing operations for a number of days amidst the rise in ICE activity, choosing to rather do phone banking.

The ICE activity is likewise keeping potential citizens from dropping off their tallies, as current arrests of U.S. people struck worry amongst citizens, stated Cirilo Ordaz, a canvasser with PowerCA Action supporting Villegas.

“With heading out to vote, I believe a great deal of them have not done it yet due to the fact that of that worry,” stated Ordaz, who was among lots of Villegas fans who fanned out throughout the area on the Monday before Election Day to prompt homeowners to vote.

Sylvia Ramirez, another Fresno native canvassing with PowerCA Action stated she’s observed far less individuals outside in current weeks, consisting of an absence of crowds at the popular yearly occasion Big Fresno Fair. For citizens, she and her group deal to drop off individuals’s tallies for them if the worry is keeping them inside.

“Offering the services of dropping off a tally for someone truly assists with the worry that individuals have of leaving their homes,” she stated, including that she has actually informed her household to remain at home as much as possible in current days to prevent interactions with ICE.

The Central Valley, understood for its considerable farming production, has actually been the seat of prominent Republican legislators, such as previous Rep. Devin Nunes and previous House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

After a Democrat-led redistricting in the state last year in reaction to Texas’s partisan redistricting effort, the district now consists of the northwest areas of Fresno, a city with more Democrats. Citizens informed The Intercept they were delighted about Villegas’s guarantee to attend to cost-of-living problems, such as promoting for Medicare for All. The policy message has actually shown prominent for a district in which 67 percent of its homeowners count on Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid. The location has actually seen significant cuts in financing ($30 billion each year throughout the state’s health care sector) due to the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill.

“I reside in the Valley and my Medi-Cal was slashed and I need to spend for medications expense,” stated Ordaz, who had actually heard the very same from citizens. One citizen was required to pay as much as $1,000 for their insulin.

Castro, the probation officer, stated he ‘d voted early for Villegas and observed citizens taking a look at him with issue while on the task in uniform, appearing at locations where ICE had actually formerly carried out raids. It’s a worry he acutely comprehended. As a kid, he resided in labor camps with his mom and daddy, who were both undocumented immigrants operating in Fresno as farm workers. He remembered comparable indiscriminate sweeps by Border Patrol in the 1970s.

“When I was little, at that time it was Border Patrol, and they utilized to appear in a van,” Castro remembered. “All the representatives utilized to go out and follow these guys. And they utilized to round them up and take them out,” he stated.

Seeing video and hearing of current ICE raids targeting farmworkers in the location conjured such uncomfortable memories.

“I never ever believed I ‘d see that once again,” he stated.

Update: November 4, 2026, 4:09 p.m. ET
This story has actually been upgraded after The Associated Press called California’s 22nd Congressional District for Randy Villegas