Immigrant rights groups and activists gathered outside the Santa Barbara County Courthouse in Santa Barbara on Tuesday to protest federal raids and the military force mobilized in response to Los Angeles protests.
Since January, 805 UndocuFund has reported that 81 individuals from the Central Coast are in custody or have been deported after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.
That number is growing, as Primitiva Hernandez, executive director of 805UndocuFund, said they’ve received reports of dozens of farmworkers picked up by Border Patrol agents in Santa Maria, Oxnard and Ventura on Tuesday morning.
During Tuesday’s rally, Hernandez referred to the federal immigration enforcement actions, protests and military response in Los Angeles, and warned that Santa Barbara could be next.
President Donald Trump sent California National Guard and Marine troops to Los Angeles in response to protests, and the State of California has sued over the CalGuard deployment, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“I stand with our Angelino brothers and sisters, because what is happening to them can happen to us now,” Hernandez said. “We’re only down the road to LA.”
Hernandez called on local elected officials, specifically the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, to do more to protect immigrant residents and workers.
“They can do a lot more for us. They’re not doing anything,” Hernandez said.
805UndocuFund has an immigrant rapid response hotline at 805.870.8855 and additional resources on the website.
Tuesday’s rally was hosted by The FUND for Santa Barbara and had nearly 300 people gathered outside the courthouse. People spoke from Indivisible Santa Barbara, the League of Women Voters, the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara, Future Leaders of America, the California Immigrant Policy Center and the Immigrant Legal Defense Center.
Eder Gaona-Macedo, executive director of The FUND for Santa Barbara, called the past couple of months a travesty.
“If you are not paying attention, you should. Our families, regardless of their backgrounds, regardless of citizenship status, are being torn apart,” Gaona-Macedo said. “We have family members that we’ve been talking to who are afraid to go grocery shopping, who are afraid to go down the street.”
Gaona-Macedo encouraged the crowd to help protect their community and announced that The FUND is increasing its endowment payout to help immigrant rights organizations.
Annette Cordero from The FUND and a Chumash descendant, told the crowd that it’s time to get out of their comfort zones and take action.
“We know we can’t give up,” Cordero said. “We know sometimes it may be daunting. We know we’re going to lose some battles, but we know we can’t lose the war. We can’t stop fighting.”
Local law enforcement agencies have been requested as mutual aid in Los Angeles in response to the protests against immigration enforcement.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office released a statement Tuesday saying the agency received a request from the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to send aid to the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department in response to “ongoing civil disturbances.”
Sheriff Bill Brown said the protests have been “far from peaceful First Amendment protests” and the “targeted attacks” on law enforcement and private property were “completely unacceptable.” The Sheriff’s Office assigned 32 personnel from the Sheriff’s Response and Special Enforcement Teams as mutual aid to be deployed until further notice.
Deputies arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning and have been providing security outside buildings downtown.
“Members of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office are not engaged in immigration enforcement activities in Los Angeles, but rather our role is to assist allied law enforcement agencies and help them ensure the safety and security of their communities in response to these violent disturbances,” Brown said in the statement.