Madison Crabill and Adilene Tonoco
Introduction
Madison Crabill, 25, and Adilene Tonoco, 33 — two Santa Ana residents who regularly monitor federal immigration enforcement — were arrested on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, on suspicion of stalking, obstructing a peace officer and criminal conspiracy, after two off-duty ICE agents told Santa Ana police the women had followed them from a federal building to the city’s police headquarters. The arrest of two immigration watchers — Tonoco volunteers with the OC Rapid Response Network and Crabill is an activist with Lucha Orange — set off an immediate fight in the city that calls itself Orange County’s only sanctuary: councilmembers demanded the women’s release, supporters rallied outside the city jail, and their attorney said observing ICE is constitutionally protected, not stalking. Tonoco was released on bail two days later; Crabill remained in custody.
Background Information
Both women were part of Southern California’s network of volunteer ICE watchers, who document federal enforcement activity in public spaces and warn their communities. Tonoco volunteers with the OC Rapid Response Network, which documents U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol operations; Crabill is an activist with Lucha Orange, a group that monitors a local Home Depot for immigration enforcement. They live in Santa Ana, which identifies itself as Orange County’s sole sanctuary city and is bound by California’s Senate Bill 54, which restricts the use of local law enforcement resources for federal civil immigration enforcement. Their arrests landed in that charged context: advocates had warned of a 45-day surge in enforcement across Southern California, and roughly a week earlier another Santa Ana observer, Jackie Cordova, said federal agents tackled and detained her during her early-morning ICE watch.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Arrest and charges. The account of the conduct comes from the Santa Ana Police Department, which said officers arrested Crabill and Tonoco on suspicion of stalking, obstructing a peace officer and criminal conspiracy after two off-duty federal agents requested assistance. The women have not been tried, and the allegations have never been adjudicated; both dispute them through attorney Sean Garcia-Leys, who represents them and says monitoring law enforcement without intent to harm is not a crime.
According to the police account, the two agents had just finished an immigration enforcement operation in La Habra and said they recognized the women from that assignment, according to SAPD spokesperson Natalie Garcia. Leaving a federal building in Santa Ana — off duty by then, the agents said — they noticed a car following them; police said the followers blocked their vehicle in an alley and ran two red lights on the way to the police station, then parked directly behind the agents’ black SUV in front of headquarters and used a megaphone to yell obscenities at them. The agents expressed concern for their safety, Garcia said, and the arrests followed an investigation and the agents’ expressed desire for prosecution.
Garcia-Leys, who represents both women, disputed the grounds for the arrest. “Without a threat of harm, it’s not stalking,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “You are allowed to follow somebody if you are not going to harm that person. In this case, the reason was to warn people about ICE activity and to monitor government officials. This doesn’t come close to meeting the definition of stalking under the statute.” He noted that criminal stalking requires a “credible threat” or an “intent to harm,” and argued that if the agents accused the two women of being an emergency threat to them, “then that is criminal swatting.” An attorney statement reported by the New York Post made the same argument: watching ICE agents is constitutionally protected, and is not stalking.
The police department has not publicly detailed its communications with the federal agents, or what evidence independently corroborated their allegations; it said officers responded and detained the two women pending further investigation.
Public Reaction and Consequences
Family members, supporters and several city councilmembers gathered on Thursday in front of the Santa Ana City Jail to call for the pair’s release. “We have always tried to teach our children right from wrong and I’ve never been prouder of my daughter standing for constitutional rights for all of us,” Crabill’s father, John Crabill, told NBC 4. Councilwoman Jessie Lopez, who is running for state assembly, said she demanded the city manager have the two residents released, adding she is “furious” that police helped ICE again: “I am 100% against Santa Ana police continuing to support and help ICE in our community.” Councilman Johnathan Hernandez said residents have a right to observe what ICE agents and police officers are doing in their community — “It’s a legal right that every resident has in the city” — and called for the advocates’ release. Councilmembers told local outlet Santanero they had already viewed body-camera footage of the encounter that has not been publicly released, and LUCHA Costa Mesa organizer Melissa Rios disputed the agents’ account.
Current Status
Tonoco was released on bail on Friday morning, October 16, while Crabill remained in custody, according to the Los Angeles Times. No court dates have been publicly announced, and neither woman has been convicted of anything — the charges are accusations in an open case. The Santa Ana Police Department has said only that the arrests followed an investigation and that the women were detained pending further review, and the city’s councilmembers are pressing for the release of the body-camera footage.
Impact on Their Career/Life
The arrests rattled the network of volunteer ICE watchers the two women belonged to: observers told local reporters the case renewed the question of whether documenting federal operations in public could itself expose them to criminal allegations, even in a self-declared sanctuary city. For Santa Ana police, the case piled onto a year of strain — an October 1 arrest of Florentino Lopez captured on video, a July arrest of an ICE observer over sidewalk chalk, and now the detention of two women whose supporters call them political prisoners and whose councilmembers demanded be freed. Whatever the courts decide, the image the case fixed in the city is a police officer detaining a seated, 25-year-old watcher on the curb outside headquarters.
Sources
- NY Post, “Santa Ana women arrested for allegedly stalking off-duty ICE agents,” Oct 16, 2026 — source
- Los Angeles Times (Daily Pilot), “Santa Ana police arrest ICE watchers on suspicion of stalking immigration agents,” Oct 15, 2026 (updated Oct 16) — source
- Voice of OC, “Santa Ana Police Arrest Immigrant Advocates Observing ICE Agents in OC’s Only Sanctuary City,” Oct 2026 — source
- Santanero (Flower & 6th reporting), “Arrests of ICE observers renew scrutiny of Santa Ana police as community trust faces further strain,” Oct 15, 2026 — source
- @nypost trigger tweet, Oct 16, 2026 — source