Immigrant communities in Kern County, California are in turmoil as the U.S. Border Patrol conducted enforcement operations across the region this week.

Videos and images that have surfaced online appear to show border guards arresting people at various locations in the region. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has confirmed the operations, which officials describe as “targeted.”

“The USBP conducts targeted, coercive arrests of individuals involved in smuggling in all of our areas of operations as part of our efforts to dismantle transnational criminal organizations,” a CBP spokesperson said in a statement.

However, Sarah Fuentes, manager of a Chevron station in Bakersfield, told ABC News that she saw Border Patrol agents and plainclothes agents approach several of her customers, asking them about their immigration status and arresting several people.

Fuentes says she thought the officers were serving a warrant, but noted that “they were just pushing aside Hispanics and field officers.”

“Then we saw it again and thought, wait a minute, this is a raid, they’re picking up random people like the field officers. They have no mandate to do this,” she said in a telephone interview. “It’s just random people out in the field doing this work.”

Fuentes shared photos and videos she took of the incident, including one that she said shows a woman locking herself in her car as a plainclothes person allegedly urged her to open the door. “Ten to fifteen minutes after she refused, they had a Border Patrol truck park behind her vehicle so she couldn’t leave,” she said. When the press arrived, agents allegedly released the woman, according to Fuentes.

Members of the United Farm Workers were arrested throughout Kern County as part of the operation, the union said in a post on X.

“UFW union members were among those arrested yesterday on their way home from work in Kern County, California. We support them and their families. Random actions like this are not intended to protect anyone, they are intended to terrorize hardworking people,” the post reads.

UFW says an initial and rough estimate shows up to 192 people may have been arrested in Kern County this week.

Antonio De Loera-Brust, UFW communications director, said he had never seen such an operation in the region before.

“They are very far from the border and despite their public claims that they are conducting targeted operations, everything we hear and see points to arbitrary detentions, where people are essentially stopped at random in public areas and at gas stations. “

Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh confirmed to ABC News that police were aware of the operations but were not assisting federal authorities.

“The Bakersfield Police Department is aware that the U.S. Border Patrol is conducting operations in the city of Bakersfield. State law requires that no local or state resources be used to assist in federal immigration enforcement. The Bakersfield Police Department remains firmly focused on local public safety responsibilities. If a resident is a victim and requires police services, regardless of immigration status, the resident is welcome to call Bakersfield Police,” she said in a statement shared with ABC News.

Oliver Ma, an attorney with the ACLU of Southern California, says the organization has received several reports of Border Patrol agents showing up in agricultural communities and other locations throughout the county.

“For example, we heard from a person who was pumping gas and said the Border Patrol came behind her car, started asking who she was and put tire spikes behind her car so she couldn’t drive away,” he said ABC News. “They tried to find out what her name was and then she saw them also walk up to seven people who were having lunch nearby and start talking to them and then all seven people were arrested and taken away.”