Tensions ran high at last week’s Santa Barbara City Council meeting over a proposed resolution on immigration enforcement, leading Councilman Mike Jordan to walk out of the meeting. 

The heated exchange came at the end of a hearing to discuss a resolution condemning aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.

While discussing local police officer involvement in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, Mayor Randy Rowse got frustrated with criticisms of the Santa Barbara Police Department. 

“I’m very disappointed,” Rowse said. “The comments (Councilwoman Wendy) Santamaria made about [how] we’re protecting ICE’s property and lives more than we’re protecting our community or the assertion of that — that’s disgusting, that’s not true.”

Santamaria said it’s not the time for officials to get defensive and that the city has lost public trust. 

“If we’re getting frosty or flustered, then maybe leadership isn’t for you, because we need to remain cool and collected when these things are happening because these are people’s lives on the line,” she said.

Without saying anything, Jordan got up from his seat and walked out of the meeting as Rowse appeared to get agitated by Santamaria’s comments and asked to move forward with the resolution. 

The proposed resolution states that city departments, officers and employees will not voluntarily disclose personal information to federal immigration authorities unless required by federal or state law. 

Additionally, it states that city facilities can’t be used for federal immigration enforcement activities and allows the city to collaborate with other public agencies to share information and best practices to maintain public safety. 

The council discussed what to include in the resolution, and it is set to return to the council for consideration at a later date. 

During last Tuesday’s hearing, Santa Barbara Police Chief Kelly Gordon once again clarified the department’s role in relation to federal enforcement operations and strongly condemned recent behavior of ICE agents.

“What we are seeing in our community and across the nation and the tactics or the lack thereof, the lack of training, and the things that we see erode public trust,” Gordon said. “They are not representative of your police department, our community’s police department, and the men and women that serve in our community.”

She emphasized that Santa Barbara police officers do not handle immigration enforcement. They do respond to ICE-related incidents to de-escalate and help with public safety, she said. Specifically, they respond to verify that federal agents actually are federal agents, manage traffic, provide medical or emergency assistance, and document actions and activities. 

“Our officers are going to continuously try to de-escalate and do what we can do to the point of document, take body cam, do all the things that we can possibly do, but if you’re asking our officers to detain a federal agent, there are serious consequences for that,” Gordon said.

She added that officers interfering with ICE activity could lead to shootings between officers of different agencies, or officers being arrested.

“I mean, quite frankly, I wouldn’t put it past the federal government to come and arrest me for my responsibility for what my officers are doing and our officers doing in our community,” Gordon said.  

While ICE used to notify the Santa Barbara Police Department about planned activity in the city, Gordon said they stopped receiving those notices a few months ago.

Many of the council members, Rowse included, criticized tactics used by ICE agents and raised concerns about escalation in the future. 

“They are untrained, unvetted, they are escalating their tactics regularly,” Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon said. “Their tactics are the threat. A community who is responding to this escalation is not the problem.”

Sneddon, who is also a teacher at Santa Barbara City College, said she has had students who are citizens detained by ICE while getting gas for their vehicles.

The City Council hearing also provoked discussions around data privacy.

Councilman Oscar Gutierrez asked for a report on the city’s data privacy policy and analysis of Flock Safety, which collects data through cameras around the city reportedly for public safety purposes.

Councilwoman Meagan Harmon said it might be time for the city to revisit its approach to data privacy in general, specifically with license plate readers.

“I certainly didn’t envision that that technology would become absolutely ubiquitous in our lives. It scared me then, and it terrifies me now,” Harmon said. “The consequences for our neighbors, particularly our immigrant neighbors, are life and death.”

The council voted 6-0 to audit the Flock system and explore alternatives at a later date.

Jordan was absent for the vote after leaving the meeting in response to the heated exchange over the immigration enforcement resolution. He did not return for the rest of the meeting, which included committee reports.