Mater Dei alumni demand end to police drone operations on campus
Mater Dei High School administration received a letter Monday from alumni expressing strong disapproval and calling for the immediate retraction of the school’s partnership with the Santa Ana Police Department and other law enforcement agencies. The controversy centers on the use of the Mater Dei campus as a staging area for “drone operations” during recent protests.
On Tuesday, June 10, President Michael Brennan authorized Santa Ana Police and other unidentified local law enforcement agencies to use the school grounds for these operations. It was later revealed that the drones were employed in crowd dispersal tactics during protests held the previous week and into the weekend.
Amid ongoing ICE raids beginning Monday, June 9, community members—unaware of the school's partnership with law enforcement—shared concerns on social media. Some feared that Immigration and Customs Enforcement was using Mater Dei as a staging site for enforcement actions in the surrounding area. On Thursday, President Brennan clarified that ICE had never set foot on campus and was not collaborating with the school in any way.
Still, the backlash grew. Two alumnae—Roshell Amezcua, Esq., and Leslie Arreola, founder of Latinx Parenting—organized a letter demanding accountability. They gathered over 750 signatures from fellow Mater Dei alumni and sent the letter via email on Monday.
Read the full letter here:
SENT VIA EMAIL TO MATER DEI ADMIN:
Monday, June 16, 2025
"Dear President Michael Brennan,
We, over 750 alumni of Mater Dei High School, write to you as concerned and disappointed alumni. On Wednesday, June 11, 2025, you sent an email confirming that Mater Dei had opened its doors to law enforcement agencies, including the Santa Ana Police Department, to use the campus as a staging site for drone operations. As former students of Mater Dei, we write to express our fear, sadness, and absolute condemnation of promoting the use of drones in local policing actions and exposing Mater Dei students to law enforcement in their sacred place of education.
First, the use of drones promotes militarized forms of policing communities from Santa Ana. Drones have long been established as tools of warfare and military tactics, historically utilized in mass killings of marginalized communities. To use Mater Dei as a testing site for militarized tactics is in direct contradiction to all that Mater Dei stands for as an institution rooted in Catholicism, the Bible, in the peace of Jesus Christ, and in love. Further, the use of drones in policing the very communities of which Mater Dei is and should be a part of displays a commitment to harming the Black and brown people surrounding the campus.
Second, exposing Mater Dei students to law enforcement in their place of education is harmful and dangerous.
Academia and education are sacred and schools should serve as sites of safety for all students. Indeed, advocates have long argued against police presence on school campuses because it serves to instill fear in students and increases distrust in their academic leaders and teachers.
All students at Mater Dei have a right to feel safe on their campus so that they can learn with open minds, free of fear of the police. By inviting the Santa Ana Police Department and other law enforcement agencies onto their campus for the specific purpose of a "staging site for drone operations," you not only put Black and brown youth at risk of harm, you send the message that Mater Dei is not a sacred place of learning and education.
We demand that Mater Dei commit to keeping all of their students safe by keeping police off of campus and that Mater Dei commit to investment in their surrounding community by condemning the use of militarized tactics such as the use of drones.
Authored by: Roshell Amezcua, Esq., Class of 2005, in collaboration with Leslie Arreola, Founder of Latinx Parenting, Class of 2005
We demand that Mater Dei High School Administration respond by June 19, 2025 (Juneteenth), with a commitment to building a supportive relationship with the Black and Brown community surrounding Mater Dei Highschool and with a commitment to not allow law enforcement onto campus generally, and specifically with the purpose to use the campus as a site for staging or training on militarized tactics against the people of Santa Ana, including the use of drones.
The overwhelming amount of engagement from your alumni base makes it clear that we are a large group, we are a group that cares about past, present, and future students at Mater Dei, and we are a group that recognizes that Mater Dei owes the surrounding community more and better. We have been taught to give and demand honor, glory, and love. Mater Dei's recent actions do not exemplify these commitments. We expect Mater Dei's Administration to respond and to take our concerns seriously because we are numerous, we are connected to various influential networks, and we won't accept anything less.
Sincerely,
Roshell Amezcua, Leslie Arreola, and the over 750 undersigned."
No official statement or response has been issued by Mater Dei since the letter was sent. On Monday, Santa Ana Police were reportedly seen on campus once again, according to community members who noted the presence of white vans. It remains unclear whether the vehicles belonged to law enforcement or the school.
The Santanero reached out to the Diocese of Orange for comment Friday. While declining to comment, they referred us to Brennan's statement issued Thursday.
