Armed officers in tactical gear were positioned outside the Corning Police Department this morning. Many residents mistook them for federal immigration officials while passing by, spurring online rumors and panic in the community.
Corning Police Chief Craig Bassett said it was a misunderstanding.
The armed officers were actually members of Butte and Tehama County SWAT teams, Bassett said. The Corning Police Department was being used as a meeting location ahead of a search of a property possibly containing illegal drugs.
They were not U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, Bassett said.
“This went from just a basic operation to serve a search warrant to now, ICE is in town, arresting everybody and the military’s here,” he said. “That was nothing anywhere close to it.”
An organization that tracks ICE activity called NorCal Resist also confirmed with NSPR that there were no immigration officials in Corning this morning.
As a courtesy, Bassett said he’s usually informed of immigration operations before they occur.
“If they're in our town, [ICE] will usually come to us and go, ‘we're looking specifically for this gentleman,’” Bassett said. “Then they go. ‘We know where he lives, we know his location. We are headed that way.’”
He said the stress created by false rumors is harmful to residents.
“We have people in our community that are in a huge panic over, ‘I don't want to go to work, I don't want to go to school.’” Bassett said. “People, that is not the case.”
This is the second time the Corning Police Department has dispelled rumors about immigration operations this year.
Under California law, local police officers are prohibited from assisting federal immigration officials in most circumstances.
