FRESNO, Calif. — ICE has been releasing people detained outside of California at processing centers in downtown Fresno and Bakersfield, leaving some of them stranded hundreds of miles from home without money or their belongings, elected officials and immigrant rights advocates say.

The detainees — some from as far away as the East Coast — have sometimes been released in the Central Valley late at night and with their phones uncharged.

U.S. Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, said that the practice "just makes no sense.” Fresno County Supervisor Luis Chavez said ICE is knowingly sending immigrants to places where “they have no safety net, no family members.”

Their comments came as attorneys also report ICE has recently transferred people detained in the Central Valley to Texas after denying them visits with legal counsel in Kern County.

“Those types of tactics are just cruel, and we need to make sure we put a stop to that,” Chavez said.

The practice of releasing detained immigrants in cities far from their homes is similar to what Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, both Republicans, authorized in past years, transporting detained immigrants by plane or bus and releasing them in various cities, including Washington D.C., New York, Los Angeles and Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., the vacation home of former President Obama.

ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

The Fresno-area officials joined U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, and Nora Zaragoza-Yáñez of the Valley Watch Network, a group that tracks ICE activity and assists detained people and their families, at a Monday news conference.

Costa said congressional representatives from California sent a letter to acting ICE Director David Venturella demanding answers by Oct. 30 about the agency’s apparent arrest surge that began in Central California on Oct. 5.

Reported ICE sightings have spiked in the Fresno area, where advocates, attorneys and elected officials say the federal agency is relying on racial profiling rather than warrants for arrests. The Department of Homeland Security has denied it is using racial profiling tactics but recently declined to provide The Fresno Bee details about its current operations in the region, citing “operational security.”

ICE activity also has surged on the Central Coast, where Santa Maria school officials reported last week that agents detained a student with special needs as he walked to school. The 20-year-old student, a U.S. citizen, was released but sustained injuries, according to reports.

“We have to call it what it is,” Carbajal said Monday. “This is racial profiling.”

Immigrants from 29 states released in Valley, says watch group

Costa said he visited downtown Fresno’s ICE office last week to conduct oversight. While there, Costa said he spoke to a man originally from Africa who came to the U.S. “legally” to study in Texas, where he lived for years before being detained.

The congressman said the Texas man, who had “a great fear of signing any documents” while detained, was being released. Costa said he questioned staff at the reception center about the practice and was left “at a loss to understand really what they’re trying to achieve.”

Zaragoza-Yáñez, the Valley Watch Network program manager, said the group has helped immigrants from 29 different states return home after their release in the Central Valley.

The group began this effort last year at ICE’s downtown Bakersfield office, she said, where people detained out of state have been released after being held at privately-operated immigration detention facilities in Kern County. Zaragoza-Yáñez added that people are released with a mesh bag similar to those filled with onions at grocery stores.

“Sometimes they’re released with all of their personal belongings,” she said, “and sometimes they’re not.”

Zaragoza-Yáñez said the families of released people are often able to purchase their flights back home, but added that the group is raising money to purchase tickets, meals and prepaid phones for those who cannot.

Costa: Accountability coming if Dems take Congress

Carbajal said various pieces of legislation intended to hold federal agencies accountable for unlawful immigration detention will “not see the light of day” while Democrats are the minority in Congress.

But if Democrats retake the House of Representatives in the midterm election, Costa said committees that have been “unwilling to hold Homeland Security and ICE authorities accountable” will change. Democrats would also then take “the power of the purse,” Costa said.

He said some committee members have for months been preparing for hearings that will call Trump administration officials involved in “this detain-and-deport effort” to testify under oath about whether they’ve been following the law.

“Meaningful oversight and dealing with the financial dollars that operate this detain-and-deport effort,” Costa said, “will give us an advantage toward ... holding these folks accountable for what they’re doing.”

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