Federal agents arrest several people outside Rancho Cucamonga courthouse

Several people were arrested by federal agents Thursday outside a courthouse in Rancho Cucamonga.

Video showed three people detained by federal agents, some wearing Immigration and Customs Enforcement vests, in the San Bernardino County community. A local organization that tracks immigration enforcement operations in Southern California said there was a fourth arrest at the location Thursday morning.

The Department of Homeland Security said the targeted immigration enforcement operations were carried out by ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The three individuals will remain in ICE custody, pending removal proceedings, the DHS said.

One of the men taken into custody was seen running from the courthouse. Another was arrested alongside a man who identified himself as the man’s attorney.

The agency said the three men from Mexico and Colombia were in the United States illegally. One of the men had been arrested earlier on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and hit and run. Another had been arrested on suspicion of battery, the DHS said.

NBCLA has not independently confirmed details about the allegations against the men.

California state law does not allow immigration enforcement arrests inside courthouses. Sen. Eloise Gomez Reyes, a Democrat from San Bernardino, has introduced legislation that would prevent federal immigration agents from making arrests within 1,000 feet of a California courthouse. 

“I want my community to be safe,” the lawmaker said. “I want our courthouses to be a sacred place for our community to know that they can go to exercise their rights to the judicial system.”

Sen. Susan Rubio, from West Covina, introduced a separate bill that would allow remote appearances for all civil court proceedings through 2029. 

“I want anyone that witnesses a crime to come forward,” Rubio said. “So we have to imagine that the only person that witnessed a crime happens to be undocumented, that is not safe for our community.”.

The immigration enforcement operations are part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort, which ramped up in June 2025 in Southern California.