A woman serving both as a city councilor and sheriff’s deputy has resigned the latter post after her husband, a previously-deported criminal illegal alien, was arrested by the FBI in California this week, according to reports.
On Monday, federal authorities apprehended 51-year-old Isidro Jimenez at a Walmart in Coachella as part of a targeted immigration enforcement operation in Riverside County.
Jimenez, a Mexican national who is in the U.S. illegally, has a lengthy criminal history spanning decades and was removed from the U.S. at least once before.
His wife, Yadira Perez, currently serves on the Coachella City Council and was also a sworn deputy with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office until this week.
“We were made aware of the arrest and the post on social media,” Sheriff Chadd Bianco told Uken Report. “We are currently working with federal law enforcement officials to determine the facts concerning the arrest by immigration officials. The involved deputy is no longer employed by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office.”
Perez filmed her husband’s arrest and the footage circulated on social media.
“My family was just separated! They have taken my kids’ father!” Perez can be heard yelling in an expletive-filled rant as agents climbed into vehicles.
Y’all. The FBI is at Walmart picking folks up for deportation. I wonder who she voted for??🤔🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/CMz0mg0I8z
— Leslie Wimes (@womenonthemove1) February 26, 2025
Mainstream coverage of the incident was immediately sympathetic towards Perez, who told NBC Palm Springs, “As we left Walmart, they just surrounded me. They said he had a deportation order. We’ve lived in Coachella for so many years. Why now?”
On Wednesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released details about Jimenez’s criminal history and illegal entries to the U.S.
Isidro Jimenez, an illegal alien convicted of assault with a deadly weapon, is arrested in joint FBI .@EROLosAngeles targeted enforcement action. One less criminal threatening the people of Coachella, California. https://t.co/gse2FEJueF pic.twitter.com/bqQWa9mxvX
— ERO Los Angeles (@EROLosAngeles) February 26, 2025
The Mexican illegally entered the country more than 30 years ago at an unknown location before being convicted in 1994 of possession of a controlled substance for sale by the Superior Court of California.
He was deported back to Mexico in 1995 by the now-defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Jimenez illegally reentered the U.S. at an unknown location and date.
In 1998, he was convicted of inflicting corporal injury to a spouse by the Superior Court of California.
The same court convicted him of DUI on Sept. 11, 2007, and assault with a deadly weapon on Feb. 16, 2023.
Jimenez remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
Perez reportedly missed a meeting of the Coachella City Council this week, and told NBC she will resign her seat and leave the country if her husband is deported.