Central Coast Feels Impacts from Recent Wave of Immigration Enforcement

ICE Operations Continue While Federal Government Ramps Up Deportation Efforts

The 805 Immigrant Rapid Response Hotline (805) 870-8855 has been an important tool for the community to learn about potential immigration enforcement on the Central Coast. | Credit: Ingrid Bostrom.

United States Immigrations and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents were spotted conducting operations in Westside Santa Barbara Tuesday morning, according to a community alert issued by 805 UndocuFund, an organization that has been providing updates on suspected immigration enforcement and assisting families of those who have been detained or deported.

The June 6 report — in which agents in multiple unmarked vehicles were seen stopping an individual on San Pascual Street around 8:15 a.m. — was just the latest in suspected ICE arrests on the Central Coast, as the communities of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties continue to feel the local impact of the mass deportations nationwide.

ICE does not publicly release details regarding the specific number of arrests in California cities and counties, but government officials announced that the agency detained more than 2,200 people across the country on June 3, marking the highest number of immigration arrests in a single day in American history.

Among the leading organizations keeping tabs on immigration enforcement in the region has been 805 UndocuFund, using its 24/7 Rapid Response Hotline to confirm reports of potential ICE activity and connecting families with legal assistance in the event of an arrest.

According to an update published on May 17, the organization has confirmed at least 55 arrests on the Central Coast under the new Trump administration, with the majority of arrests occurring in heavily Latino areas and the agricultural worker communities of Santa Maria, Lompoc, and Oxnard.

Immigration advocates have reported arrests of undocumented individuals with no prior criminal history who were detained at their places of work, traveling home, or while attending routine check-ins at immigration offices. On May 14, one woman was detained while taking her elderly mother to an appointment in Ventura County. According to the alert posted on 805 UndocuFund’s social media page, the woman was taken and is currently detained at Florence Detention Center in Arizona.

While the reports of immigration enforcement in Central Coast communities have raised the level of fear among undocumented or mixed-status residents, the advocacy and informational “Know Your Rights” workshops hosted by 805 UndocuFund and similar organizations have created a network of support to help ease the impacts on the ground.

At least one potential raid at an Oxnard strawberry picking facility was avoided on May 15 due to a staff member who had been trained on how to respond to immigration enforcement on-site. According to witnesses at the scene, a front gate worker at West Coast Berry Farms stopped the ICE agents from entering the property by asking to see a warrant. While the agents left without any arrests, the farm owners later reported a $100,000 loss in productivity due to workers leaving their shifts out of fear of more enforcement.

On May 19, a Ventura County mother of two was reunited with her family after spending 47 days at Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, nearly 300 miles away. When the woman was arrested back on April 2, she was taken away from her 9-year-old child during a check-in at an ICE field office; 805 UndocuFund helped raise money for the family’s legal assistance, and a volunteer drove down to pick the woman up and bring her back home.

This network of public support has also led to a wave of crowdfunding efforts to help individuals who have been arrested and families torn apart due to immigration enforcement.

With the strawberry season in full swing, some families who rely on agricultural work have been left scrambling to make ends meet after having a family member deported; 805 UndocuFund shared the GoFundMe pages for several Central Coast families seeking assistance.

Ana Valerio, a Mixtec mother of two from Santa Maria, described having her husband detained and taken away to High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto back in March. “He was the only one working,” she said. “Now I’m alone, looking for support to pay rent, food, diapers, bills, and a lawyer who can help my husband.” The Valerio family’s GoFundMe can be found here.

Two more Mixtec mothers in Santa Maria have been left in a similar predicament, one just months after giving birth to a new baby. ICE arrested the husbands of both women, who have been struggling to pay for housing, food, and childcare while working to get their husbands back home. The Santos family’s GoFundMe can be found here, and one for the Martinez family here.

The Olivera family had two relatives detained by ICE in April. The wives of both men have started crowdfunding pages asking for financial assistance. Both men have never had a criminal record before they were taken by ICE and detained out of state, according to the GoFundMe pages.

For more information, real-time updates, and a full list of families seeking support, visit the 805 Immigrant Coalition social media account.