A Jail Release That Turned Into a Beating, His Mother Says
Alba Beltrán was sitting in her car outside the county jail in Santa Maria on July 24, waiting to bring her son home, when she says four vehicles pulled into the lot and agents with their faces covered stepped out. Her son, Jefersson Bladimir Alemán Beltrán, didn't fight them, she says — he was loaded into one of the vehicles, and that's when, according to her account relayed to reporter Araceli Martinez, an agent began hitting him.
Jefersson, 19, had spent three days in custody after Santa Maria police arrested him on July 21 on suspicion of improper sexual conduct. A judge dismissed the case two days later for lack of evidence, clearing the way for his release. Beltrán, who is undocumented and arrived in California from El Salvador in 2009, says she threw herself onto the floor of her car out of fear as the agents worked. Her son entered the U.S. in 2019 at age 14 as an unaccompanied minor, graduated from Santa Maria High School last year, and — like his mother — picks strawberries in the fields surrounding the city.
A Possible Sanctuary-Law Problem
Beltrán also alleges the sheriff's office tipped off ICE ahead of her son's release. California's sanctuary statute generally bars local agencies from notifying federal immigration authorities before releasing someone unless that person has a qualifying prior conviction or there's a judicial warrant — neither of which applied here, since the underlying case against Jefersson had just been thrown out. Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office answered requests for comment before the original story ran.
A Hospital Waiting Room, Then a Phone Call
Shaken, Beltrán drove to Marian Regional Health Center, where her younger son had just had minor surgery. Scrolling Facebook in the waiting area, she came across a post describing a young man admitted after being severely beaten by immigration agents. Nurses wouldn't confirm anything, and a call to 911 went nowhere. Around 7 p.m., Jefersson called her, crying. He told her an agent hit him in the head and chest after he declined to answer whether he was in the country illegally and asked for a lawyer instead. Recalling her son's words, Beltrán says the agent told him, "You're an illegal abuser. You don't belong in this country." Jefersson said he was left restrained and unclothed on a hospital bed with no blanket before being moved to a cell at an ICE facility in Santa Maria, where he says the treatment continued.
Paperwork That Doesn't Match What He Described
Beltrán later requested her son's medical file from the hospital — a process that took four visits over a month and cost her $380 for the X-rays taken during his stay. The records, she says, make no mention of injuries tied to a beating. Two people who provide support services to detainees at Adelanto, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of losing access to the facility, told the outlet that Jefersson showed them bruising on his chest, a swollen neck, and complaints of back pain, and that he seemed anxious and tearful. Beltrán can't visit her son in person because of her own immigration status; she calls him daily and says he struggles to accept what's happened to him. She's also raised concerns about his mental health, noting he attempted suicide once at 16 — a history that weighs on her now.
Two Court Rulings, Not One Contradicting the Other
Jefersson is currently held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County, a facility already under active federal court scrutiny. In January 2026, four detainees and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, along with Public Counsel and Immigrant Defenders Law Center, sued ICE and DHS over conditions there. On July 16, U.S. District Judge Sunshine Sykes ordered the government to immediately provide clean drinking water, adequate meals, and real medical care to people detained at the facility, finding detainees were likely to prevail on claims that conditions there violated their constitutional rights. When the government tried to pause that order while it appealed, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously said no on August 20 — rejecting the argument that the government could avoid responsibility by pointing to the private contractor that runs the facility day to day. Full appeal arguments are due later this month.
Part of a Larger Pattern, Advocates Say
Jefersson's case surfaces amid broader, separately documented complaints about ICE conduct. A nationwide ACLU review released in July examined more than 1,200 immigration enforcement incidents across eight states and found agent misconduct — including excessive force, racial profiling, and intimidation — in more than 400 of them. Separately, Los Angeles Times data cited by La Nación put total ICE and CBP arrests across greater Los Angeles at more than 4,160 between early June and mid-October of last year, alongside repeated allegations of excessive force against both detainees and bystanders. A pastor who visits Adelanto weekly told the original reporter that beatings during ICE arrests have become common, pointing to a separate case involving a street vendor he says was struck while trying to flee.
Where Things Stand
For now, Beltrán has a phone call every night to a facility she can't enter, medical records that don't back up what her son told her, and no response from either agency she's asked to explain themselves. If DHS or the sheriff's office responds to these allegations, this account will need to be updated accordingly.
This is a sensitive topic. If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of self-harm, support is available through the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
