An agricultural region east of Santa Maria was the site of chaos, yelling and confrontation Thursday morning when protesters clashed with dozens of federal agents reportedly conducting an immigration enforcement raid.
Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security and Homeland Security Investigations detained at least 15 people, according to Cesar Vasquez, 805UndocuFund rapid response organizer.
Vasquez said he was getting out of the shower Thursday morning when he began getting alerts of a possible ICE raid near Santa Maria.
By 7:30 a.m., he was on the scene, counting about 60 federal agents and 40 vehicles reportedly blocking off the entrance to Telephone Road and Cambridge Way.
“I saw they had closed off the road, which is a sign of a huge operation,” Vasquez said.
Agents reportedly arrested 15 people, 10 of whom worked at East Valley Farms, according to KSBY.
The situation quickly escalated as about 50 protesters arrived on the scene, yelling at the agents blocking off the street entrance to not touch protesters as agents rushed toward the crowd, according to video obtained from 805UndocuFund.
Agents deployed flash bombs and tear gas, and some acted aggressively against protesters, according to Vasquez.
“Flash bombs are meant to cause concussions, meant to hurt you,” he said.
The 17-year-old organizer said he remembers feeling terrified as he confronted the agents, demanding to see warrants.
“I was hit and pushed multiple times, and I was flash-banged,” Vasquez said.
Some protesters reportedly used their own vehicles to attempt to block agent activity.
By 10:37 a.m., Vasquez reported, a large armored military vehicle with about 12 agents hanging on to the side arrived on the scene.
The number of agents was the most Vasquez said he had seen since the Glass House Farms raid in Carpinteria in July in which 10 people were detained.
The presence of HSI agents also signaled to Vasquez that “worse things were about to come.”
ICE agents reportedly told him they were there under human trafficking suspicions.
DHS and ICE representatives did not respond to Noozhawk’s request for comment.
However, agents told KSBY reporters on the scene that they were there “carrying out a federal law enforcement operation.”
805UndocuFund’s internal records of detainments show Santa Maria as the most targeted city in the county, according to Primitiva Hernandez, executive director of the organization.
The organization estimates that about 10 people have been detained and processed every day across the Santa Maria Valley since January.
805UndocuFund spotters say they saw vehicles speed away from the Santa Maria ICE office Thursday morning, tipping them off that something was up.
“We watch these vehicles every day, and yesterday we saw them leave in an unfamiliar way,” Vasquez said. “We saw they were driving quicker and in groups.”
Vasquez left the scene of the enforcement operation around 11 a.m.
“It was very tense, but also very beautiful to see the community come together in such harsh circumstances but come together nonetheless,” he said.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office told Noozhawk its personnel were not part of the operation.