When federal immigration agents raided a Carpinteria cannabis facility in July, tearing workers from their jobs in front of shocked co-workers and families, it wasn’t just a “law enforcement action.”
It was a kidnapping. It was terror. And it was carried out against the very neighbors who make Santa Barbara thrive.
In recent months, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have appeared in Goleta, on Santa Barbara’s Eastside and Westside, and around Milpas Street.
They drive unmarked vehicles, dress in plainclothes, and stop workers as they walk to shifts at restaurants, greenhouses or job sites. Parents are taken as children wait at school pick-up.
The 805 UndocuFund has issued urgent alerts: ask for a warrant, know your rights, protect your family.
The terror is local. These are not headlines from Arizona or Texas — they are stories unfolding in our backyards.
Who Builds Santa Barbara?
Look around this city. Who cleans the hotel rooms for tourists? Who cooks the meals on State Street, at the harbor, and in our finest restaurants?
Who harvests strawberries, lettuce and cannabis in Carpinteria and Santa Maria? Who mows lawns, tends gardens and cares for our children?
The answer is simple: immigrant labor, much of it Mexican, often undocumented.
Immigrants are the backbone of our agriculture, hospitality and service industries. They pay taxes, yet qualify for few benefits.
They carry our economy on their backs while walking in constant fear of being torn from their families.
This land itself tells the story. Until 1848, California was Mexico. Many of Santa Barbara’s oldest families trace their roots to Spanish and Mexican settlers.
For Chicanos, this coast is Aztlán, the mythic homeland of the Aztec people. To deport workers from here is not just cruel — it is historically absurd.
Moral Imperatives
All of our faith traditions remind us: welcome the stranger, because we were once strangers.
Jewish scripture, the Christian gospel, the Qur’an, Indigenous teachings — all affirm the dignity of the foreigner.
ICE raids do the opposite. They shatter families. They criminalize work. They instill fear in children. They leave neighbors to mourn in silence, too afraid to seek help.
As an interfaith activist in Santa Barbara, I call this what it is: a violation of our deepest moral commitments.
Local Leadership
To their credit, some local officials have spoken out.
District Attorney John Savrnoch condemned the Carpinteria raid as unnecessary and xenophobic. Assemblyman Gregg Hart, D-Santa Barbara, has called for accountability.
The county Board of Supervisors recently allocated $240,000 in cannabis tax revenue for immigrant mental health services to help families coping with trauma.
Nonprofit organizations like CLUE Santa Barbara (Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice), CAUSE (Central Coast Alliance United), La Casa de la Raza and 805 UndocuFund are on the front lines.
“Do we want a Santa Barbara where immigrant families are welcome, protected and embraced — or one where they are hunted?”
They provide legal aid, rapid-response networks, “know your rights” workshops and emergency support for families. They need more resources, and they need us standing beside them.
But where is Sheriff Bill Brown? He has refused to distance his Sheriff’s Department from federal enforcement. That silence speaks volumes.
Call for Reform
We cannot continue like this. We need:
- Stronger sanctuary protections so ICE cannot prowl schools, clinics or workplaces
- Pathways to citizenship for essential workers who already pay taxes and sustain our economy
- Oversight and transparency — no more secretive raids
- Expanded funding for immigrant legal defense and trauma care
- Faith-based solidarity, with churches, synagogues, mosques and temples declaring: Not in our city. Not to our neighbors.
The Community We Want to Be
Santa Barbara likes to see itself as a city of compassion. But compassion is meaningless if our neighbors live in fear while we sip wine on State Street or stroll Stearns Wharf.
We cannot love this city while ignoring the workers who feed us, house us and sustain us. Every raid makes us complicit unless we resist.
The moral question is simple: Do we want a Santa Barbara where immigrant families are welcome, protected and embraced — or one where they are hunted?
I know my answer.