A forum held at Allan Hancock College last week examined the immigrant community’s role in the Santa Maria Valley economy along with the legal protections and uncertainty shaping their lives.

Organized by the community college, the Santa Maria Valley Chamber, the League of Women Voters of Northern Santa Barbara County and other local groups, the forum brought together legal experts, business leaders and community members with firsthand experience navigating the immigration system for a moderated panel and audience Q&A session.

Michael Boyer, president and CEO of the Santa Maria Valley Chamber, said his 31-year background in business operations shaped how he approached the topic.

“In business, our labor availability is the primary indicator of scalability,” he said. “Currently, immigrants make up over 33% of the city of Santa Maria’s residents, and 22% in the county of Santa Barbara.”

Boyer said labor workforce participation for immigrants was 67%, a number he called significantly higher than the 61% participation rate of native-born residents.

Looking at agriculture and construction, Boyer said immigrants account for 75% of employment in the region’s $2.7 billion agriculture industry and are twice as likely to work in the county’s $1.2 billion construction sector. He said the two industries together generate $103 million in annual taxes in Santa Barbara County.

“Our immigrant community is the engine of our local economy,” Boyer said.

Allan Hancock College political science professor Jessica Scarffe gave a concise overview of constitutional protections, including the 14th Amendment.

Scarffe said the amendment intentionally uses the word “person” rather than “citizen” when guaranteeing that no state shall deprive anyone of life, liberty or property without due process, or deny them equal protection under the law.

When asked during the Q&A session what actually ensures immigrants’ rights are consistently protected in practice, Scarffe was blunt: “I just have to be honest, and in the moment I don’t think we are guaranteeing it.”

Luis Sanchez, an attorney and educator, called the legal landscape surrounding immigration “daunting” and “highly fluid.” A son of first-generation immigrants, Sanchez said that while he was not an expert in immigration law, he could offer an overview of how immigration courts operate and how they differ from standard civil or criminal courts.

One major difference, Sanchez said, is that state and federal courts have stricter rules about evidence.

“You can’t introduce hearsay evidence or you have to have witnesses who can testify firsthand,” he said. “That’s not true in immigration courts. You can bring evidence if it seems plausible to the judge.”

Sanchez also said that in immigration court, the burden of proof falls on the noncitizen rather than the prosecution in a criminal case, or a plaintiff in a civil case.

Sanchez said that while state and local governments can enact protections for immigrants, those measures are not always enforced consistently. One example he gave was California’s Senate Bill 54, which limits local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

The forum also highlighted the personal impact of that legal uncertainty through accounts from community members navigating the immigration system.

Alvaro Cortez, a local resident and naturalized citizen, spoke through a translator to describe what gaining citizenship meant to him. Cortez said he became a U.S. citizen in 2014 after years of working in the region’s agricultural fields, and that citizenship gave him “a voice in the future I could finally claim as my own.”

Cortez also said citizenship opened doors he had not previously imagined, including the ability to start his own business.

Boyer said foreign-born residents are twice as likely to start businesses as U.S.-born residents and that immigrants account for 36% of U.S. patents despite making up 14% of the population.

He also said Hispanic-owned businesses in Santa Maria do not appear to be struggling any more than other businesses, and that all are dealing with broader economic uncertainty.

“The bottom line: There is a myth that immigration is a fiscal burden,” Boyer said. “The data says otherwise.”