The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is involved in a major recruitment drive, but you won’t see Customs & Border Patrol at a job fair scheduled for Chino Hills on Wednesday, Feb. 11.

Local community groups sounded the alarm in late January.

“Indivisible Inland Empire and the Cat Ladies for America Inland Empire condemn the decision to invite Customs and Border Patrol to the upcoming SB County Job Fair in Chino Hills,” a Jan. 28 Instagram post from Indivisible Inland Empire reads.

Border patrol’s presence at the job fair would be “harmful and unacceptable,” the post continues, after the killings of two American citizens in Minneapolis — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — by federal immigration agents in January.

“Job fairs should be safe, welcoming spaces, not platforms linked to violence and abuse,” the post concludes. “We demand accountability and urge organizers to remove CBP from this event.”

And now they have been.

“CBP will not be participating in the job fair in Chino Hills on Wednesday,” San Bernardino County spokesperson David Wert wrote in an email on Monday, Feb. 9.

Border Patrol has been on a mass email list for county job fairs “for many years with hundreds of other employers,” Wert explained.

When a job fair is planned, a notice is sent to everyone on the email list, asking them to let the county know if they plan to attend the job fair.

“There was no individualized invitation to CBP,” Wert wrote.

Border patrol informed the county they intended to attend the Chino Hills job fair, “but last week the county informed CBP they will not be included in the event,” Wert wrote. “The county became aware of some objections in the community, and the county does not want jobseekers distracted or discouraged from attending the job fair.”

Customs & Border Patrol did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning.

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Since returning to office in January 2025, President Donald Trump has directed an unprecedented immigration crackdown.

Historically, Customs & Border Patrol enforce federal immigration laws near the nation’s borders and ports of entry. But during the major immigration enforcement push during the second Trump administration, CBP agents have been working alongside U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement — which enforces immigration laws in the nation’s interior — in crackdowns across the US. Those efforts have largely been focused on the nation’s Hispanic and Latino residents.

According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, as of 2024, 56.4% of San Bernardino County’s more than 2 million residents identified as Hispanic or Latino.

ICE is planning a $100 million recruitment effort this year, according to a report published in December by the Washington Post. The goal is to hire 10,000 new employees, according to Department of Homeland Security officials.

The job fair, organized by the San Bernardino County Workforce Development Department, is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, Feb. 11, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Chino Hills Community Center, 14250 Peyton Drive, in Chino Hills.

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