U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has publicly named the man its agents arrested outside Santa Monica Police Department headquarters on Thursday, July 23, as Juan Manuel Saravia, a Salvadoran national the agency described as a twice-convicted burglar with a final order of removal.
ICE released the identification in a statement on its Facebook page, the Santa Monica Daily Press reported. The agency said Saravia will remain in federal custody pending a removal flight to El Salvador.
SMPD officers arrested Saravia that morning on suspicion of vehicle burglary and possession of burglary tools, then cited and released him. Federal agents independently took him into custody in a public area near the Public Safety Facility at 4th Street and Olympic Boulevard shortly before noon.
Saravia fled when agents approached. The pursuit was brief, and agents apprehended him without incident, according to ICE.
Witnesses described agents wearing green vests and arriving in a black Chevrolet Tahoe without license plates and a dark gray Toyota Camry with a California plate, according to the Santa Monica Mirror.
Why SMPD released him
SMPD Lt. Lewis Gilmour explained on July 23 that California law and Los Angeles County's pre-arraignment release protocols prevented the department from holding Saravia because the charges did not meet criteria for continued detention.
"The charges in this case did not meet the criteria for continued detention," Gilmour told the Santa Monica Lookout that day. "Once the citation and booking process was complete, SMPD no longer had a basis to hold him."
The department's official statement said officers did not participate in or assist with the federal arrest and that there was no coordinated handoff between SMPD and federal authorities.
Policy conflict
ICE's statement criticized the department's refusal to honor a civil immigration detainer placed against Saravia, saying local officials released him back into the community instead of holding him for federal agents.
Police Chief Darrick Jacob, in a July 23 statement published by the Santa Monica Daily Press, said the department's position is consistent with California's Senate Bill 54, the California Values Act, and Title 8 of the U.S. Code. Jacob said SMPD does not conduct immigration sweeps, raids or detentions based on immigration status.
Jacob also said immigration status does not affect a person's ability to report a crime, request assistance or cooperate with police as a victim or witness.
The July 23 arrest was not the first reported ICE enforcement action in Santa Monica this year. In March, the grassroots group West LA Respuesta Rapida reported a woman was detained by ICE outside a commercial building at 2260 S. Centinela Ave. as she walked to work.
ICE's statement did not include a date for Saravia's removal flight or details about the jurisdiction or timing of his two prior burglary convictions.
