The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is disputing that federal immigration agents arrested a man on a California community college campus, contradicting college officials who maintain that the enforcement occurred on school property.

DHS’ denial came Wednesday, two days after Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrived on campus and detained the parent of a student. A photo provided by the college appears to show an ICE agent in a school parking lot. The student, who is a freshman at the college, also told The Sacramento Bee that her father was dropping her off at campus around 9:45 a.m. Monday when the ICE agents stopped their car.

“We were pulling up to the parking lot,” said Mayrin, who asked to be only identified by her first name, citing fear of retaliation.

Mayrin shared text messages sent to family and friends in the minutes after the arrest that said it took place on the California Central Coast campus. Santa Maria, a predominantly Latino city and agricultural hub, is about 30 minutes south of San Luis Obispo.

In a written statement, DHS confirmed they arrested a man but said claims he was arrested on a college campus are “FALSE.” The agency did not respond to follow-up questions about where the arrest took place and what the man was doing when they encountered him. There are several documented examples of DHS making false claims or not providing full accounts over the last year and a half when it comes to its enforcement.

Allan Hancock College spokesperson Lauren Milbourne said Wednesday afternoon that the college stood by its initial statement of the incident, which said the detainment took place in Parking Lot 2 of the campus. That parking lot is at one of the edges of campus and near Bradley Road in Santa Maria, according to a virtual map of the college.

Milbourne also provided a photo sent to the college’s chief of police on Wednesday that shows an ICE agent next to a white van in a parking lot. Mayrin said the white van in the photo is her father’s vehicle in Parking Lot 2 of the campus.

“This incident has caused concern across the Hancock community, and we remain united in supporting our undocumented students and students from mixed-status families,” said the initial statement. “Allan Hancock College strongly condemns immigration enforcement actions that create fear and uncertainty for our students and their families. Our campuses should be places where every student can learn, grow and pursue their goals without fear.”

Immigration enforcement has surged across the country during President Donald Trump’s second term. While arrests near schools have become more common, enforcement actions directly on campuses are extremely rare — and it’s unclear if federal immigration agents have ever detained a person on school property before Monday’s incident.

DHS, in its statement, identified the man and said he had illegally entered the U.S. at an “unknown time and date near San Ysidro, California.” The agency alleged he had refused their offer to self-deport. The Bee is not naming him due to a request from his family, citing fear of retaliation.

The man is being held at the Desert View Annex facility in San Bernardino County, according to ICE’s online locator tool. His name did not appear in a Santa Barbara County court system search, and his daughter maintained that he has no criminal history.

Mayrin said her father immigrated to the country more than 20 years ago from Oaxaca, a southern state in Mexico. He is 50 and worked as a farmworker before starting his own car washing business in Santa Maria. He is the father of six children, three of whom are biological and another three that he adopted.

“He loved all of us equally and treated all of us the same,” Mayrin, 18, said.

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