Demonstrators gathered on State Street to protest recent actions by ICE agents in Santa Barbara and across the country. Credit: Daniel Green / Noozhawk photo

Protests continued in Santa Barbara Saturday as hundreds of people gathered on Upper State Street to protest ongoing federal immigration enforcement operations and to demand agents leave the community.

Saturday’s protest included people gathered near State Street and Hitchcock Way, where protestors held signs, chanted, and waved flags at passing cars, many of whose drivers honked in support.

The protest comes in response to local and national news of ICE arrests. Locally, Santa Barbara woman Beth Goodman was pepper-sprayed by an ICE agent Wednesday morning while protesting an arrest and filming agents near Carpinteria and Salinas streets.  

Protestors also held signs calling for justice in the death of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, the Minneapolis citizens who were shot and killed by ICE agents.

The demonstration came after a day of school walkouts, protests, and businesses closing or donating proceeds to local activist groups to support immigrant communities and protest ICE operations.