Days after agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement appeared on Santa Barbara’s Eastside and pepper-sprayed a woman, local leaders Friday denounced ICE’s tactics.
A press conference featuring state, county and city officials occurred at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse, where speakers demanded an end to ICE’s actions in the community and against protesters.
A crowd gathered just before noon, holding signs criticizing ICE and expressing support for immigrants. In the wake of an agent using pepper spray on a woman Wednesday, protests have popped up around the county.
In attendance Friday was Assemblyman Gregg Hart, Second District Supervisor Laura Capps, Santa Barbara City Councilwoman Wendy Santamaria and others.
Hart started the event by talking about the history of the United States and military troops shooting people in the streets and arresting them without warrants.
“Our country was founded to prevent those abuses from a king,” Hart said. “Now, sadly, 250 years later, our cities are again occupied by military troops from Los Angeles to Portland and the nation’s capital. Only this time, they’re American troops.”
Hart also talked about actions the California Legislature has taken to stand up to ICE, including passing the No Secret Police Act. The law forbids law enforcement from covering their faces when performing their duties.
He also mentioned the Family Preparedness Act, which allows parents to designate someone as a child’s caretaker in the case of an emergency.
“The legislature is now advancing a package of bills to further protect Californians from ICE,” Hart said, “including legislation to prevent ICE agents from becoming police officers, to hold private detention facilities accountable and to keep ICE out of our state courthouses.”
During Hart’s speech, a crowd of students from Santa Barbara High School and Santa Barbara Middle School emerged from down the street, shouting anti-ICE chants for justice.
Capps addressed the crowd alongside First District Supervisor Roy Lee, calling for an end to ICE’s tactics. She spoke about the fear that ICE creates in the community when they appear and the aftermath.
“While ICE may show up on any given day, ICE is not the one who will be here tomorrow to rebuild trust, reopen classrooms, reassure a child whose parent was taken away,” Capps told the crowd. “ICE is decimating that trust, decimating families, decimating our community right before our eyes.”
She also called out Sheriff Bill Brown of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, saying he has a responsibility to the County of Santa Barbara.
“This is not a moment for both sides language,” she said. “I hope our sheriff will listen (and) voice to our community … our constitutional right to protest peacefully.”
Capps also announced that she is working on an ordinance to create ICE-free zones on county property.
Near the end of the event, Santamaria took the podium, where she expressed a mix of emotions at the size of the crowd. She represents Eastside Santa Barbara on the council.
She told the crowd that she feels empowered by the support of the community, but added she feels heartbroken and angry at seeing people on the Eastside brutalized by ICE agents.
Santamaria added that local leaders need to do more to exercise every bit of their power to push back against ICE. She also called out Brown, saying he works for the community.
She ended by telling the crowd that everyone needs to support one another, talk to their neighbors and local support groups, and expand their friend group.
“One day, one way or another, we’re all going to need each other,” Santamaria said. “In fact, that’s not one day. It’s happening now. We already need each other, and the first way that we defeat this wave of fascism is by doing it together.”
