Two women known for monitoring federal immigration enforcement activities in Orange County were arrested on Wednesday by Santa Ana police on suspicion of stalking two off-duty Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, authorities said. Adeline Tonoco, 33, and Madison Crabill, 25, were taken into custody on charges that included stalking, obstructing a peace officer, and criminal conspiracy, according to a Santa Ana Police Department spokesperson. Tonoco was released on bail Friday morning, while Crabill remained detained.
According to police reports, the women followed a black SUV with tinted windows from a federal building in Santa Ana to the Santa Ana Police Department headquarters. The agents inside the vehicle had requested police assistance after reporting that they were being followed. Officers said the defendants blocked the agents’ vehicle in an alley before continuing to follow it toward the police station. During the pursuit, the women reportedly drove erratically and ran two red lights to maintain contact with the agents. Upon arrival, the women allegedly parked directly behind the SUV and used a megaphone to shout obscenities at the agents, who were off duty at the time.
The arrest followed an investigation prompted by safety concerns raised by the agents, who identified Tonoco and Crabill as activists they had seen earlier during an immigration enforcement operation in La Habra.
Legal representation for the women disputed the charges, arguing that the conduct did not meet the legal definition of stalking. Sean Garcia-Leys, the attorney for Tonoco and Crabill, stated that following someone without the intent to cause harm is not illegal. He said the women’s intent was to monitor government officials and warn the community about ICE activity. “Without a threat of harm, it’s not stalking,” he said.
Tonoco volunteers with the OC Rapid Response Network, an organization that documents ICE and Border Patrol activities, while Crabill is affiliated with Lucha Orange, which monitors immigration enforcement at Home Depot stores.
The OC Rapid Response Network’s director of organizing, Casey Conway, reviewed video footage from the encounter, which one of the women recorded. Conway said the video did not show the agents’ vehicle being blocked. He described the agents as unmasked but visibly armed.
The arrests occurred amid heightened tensions surrounding ICE enforcement efforts, particularly under the Trump administration’s policies aimed at increasing immigration arrests before the midterm elections. Santa Ana, the only sanctuary city in Orange County, prohibits local police cooperation with federal immigration enforcement—a policy that does not extend to off-duty federal agents outside city jurisdiction, as in this case.
Some local officials expressed concern about the broader implications of the arrests. Santa Ana City Councilmember Jessie Lopez criticized the detentions, emphasizing the importance of community members being able to hold government accountable without fear of retaliation or inaccurate charges. Lopez called for the activists’ release during a news conference outside the Santa Ana Jail on Thursday.
Garcia-Leys, who also leads the Peace and Justice Law Center, accused the police of failing to carefully evaluate the agents’ safety concerns prior to making arrests. He also suggested that if ICE agents claimed the women posed an emergency threat, the situation could amount to criminal swatting—calling attention to what he described as an unusual escalation in enforcement tactics.