Father detained by ICE after dropping daughter off at Allan Hancock College
Oct 5, 2026·Location: Santa Maria, CA

A man was detained by ICE agents in Parking Lot 2 at Allan Hancock College's Santa Maria campus around 9:45 a.m. Monday, shortly after dropping off his daughter, a student there. His daughter, identified as Mayrin in one account and Miley in another, said she noticed a vehicle following them near South Bradley Road before they reached campus, where an agent knocked on the car window, asked for identification, and took her father into custody. "My dad was kidnapped by ICE today," she said at a press conference hosted by Santa Maria City Councilmember Gloria Soto, adding she did not know why he had been detained. A vigil was held for him afterward. College Superintendent-President Kevin Walthers said the administration did not participate in, assist with, or receive advance notice of the enforcement action, and reaffirmed support for undocumented students and mixed-status families; ICE told reporters it had no record of activity at the college that morning. The arrest came amid a broader surge of ICE operations in Santa Maria and Guadalupe that day, during which more than a dozen other people were reportedly arrested, including at a local jail and near a McDonald's.
Sources
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