The 805 Immigrant Rapid Response Hotline confirmed that at least four community members were arrested by federal immigration enforcement in three different Central Coast cities on Wednesday, September 17, including two people who were taken off the street near Modoc Road in Santa Barbara.
The 805 UndocuFund’s executive director, Primitiva Hernandez, who helps run the 24/7 Rapid Response Hotline to follow up on reports of ICE activity on the Central Coast, said that Wednesday was “a devastating day” for the region. Rapid Response volunteers verify reports of federal immigration enforcement by sending legal observers to the scene, cross-referencing with known ICE vehicles that have been previously spotted in the area, and working firsthand with the families of those who have been arrested.
The first immigration-related arrest on September 17 occurred just before 5:30 a.m. in Santa Maria, where Rapid Response volunteers reported that one person was taken by ICE officers near the area of Fesler Street and Western Avenue.
At 7:40 a.m., the hotline was alerted to another arrest in Oxnard, where a man was aggressively apprehended and taken away by ICE officers near the corner of Guava and South East streets. In a video posted to social media, four masked officers in bulletproof vests can be seen smashing the driver’s side window of a man’s pickup truck before dragging him out, throwing him on the ground, and kneeling on his back as they detained him.
Minutes later, Rapid Response volunteers received reports of two people who were being apprehended in Santa Barbara near Modoc Road and Veronica Springs Road. Legal observers recognized the gray Dodge Durango at the scene as the same ICE vehicle that had been spotted in various previous immigration operations in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
According to a firsthand witness, ICE officers were seen grabbing the men off of bicycles and putting them into the unmarked vehicle. Video from the scene shows the gray Dodge driving away on Modoc Road, with the bicycles of the two people who had been arrested left abandoned on the sidewalk.
Staff from 805 UndocuFund later confirmed that the gray Dodge Durango is a “known ICE raid vehicle,” which was seen by Rapid Response volunteers in a previous immigration arrest in Santa Barbara on September 3. The gray Dodge was later spotted arriving at the ICE field office at Cortez Circle in Camarillo around 8:50 a.m. Wednesday, according to legal observers.
Hernandez said 805 Unducufund and partner organizations with the 805 Immigrant Coalition are working closely with the families of those that have been arrested to provide legal support and other resources.
This is the first time the Rapid Response Hotline has reported multiple immigration arrests in a single day since September 8, when two people were arrested in Ventura and downtown Santa Barbara.
ICE did not immediately respond to requests for confirmation of the arrests on September 17. ICE officials have previously stated that the agency does not comment on current operations for security concerns.
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