The dangers of crossing paths with ICE are plain, which is why SBResiste gives its volunteer and rapid response members clear guidance on how to follow a federal agent in a vehicle: Maintain a safe distance; follow all traffic laws.
This became an open question after the Independent received two letters from SBResiste volunteers, who had been tailing federal immigration agents during their efforts to protect the community. Both stated that California Highway Patrol officers had pulled observers over, delaying them long enough for the ICE agents to leave and escape further observation.
For the CHP, they received a call from an individual concerned that they were being followed. In Santa Maria on the afternoon of December 27, 2025, CHP Officer Maria Barriga said officers responded to a federal agent being followed, just as they would in the case of a domestic-violence-related call. After telling the caller to pull into a safe location like a local law enforcement office, CHP units contacted the follower and separated the two parties.
A similar call for service came to the CHP in Goleta on January 7, 2026. Sergeant Keith Rogers related that an ICE agent had called dispatch to say he was being followed. The agent said the vehicle behind him was “tailgating, honking their horn, and blowing a whistle.” The agent also stated the observer was “brake checking,” or getting in front of his vehicle and hitting the brakes. As in Santa Maria, the agent was told to get to a safe place — the CHP office in Goleta, in this case — and the observer following him was approached by CHP officers there.
That observer on January 7 was Chelsea Lancaster, a longtime activist in Santa Barbara and a member of SBResiste. Lancaster has observed ICE agents for some time and could identify this person by name.
“It was [the ICE agent] who was driving dangerously, not me,” Lancaster said, who was part of a group following a couple of immigration vehicles. She’d first seen them on the Eastside that morning and had honked and blown a whistle to warn Eastsiders to ICE’s presence. She did not brake-check or tailgate the agent, she said. He drove recklessly through the Milpas Street corridor, Lancaster said, then sped around the Milpas roundabout several times, finally driving to the CHP station in Goleta. Lancaster followed him onto the apron in front of the station — “Stupidly,” she said — where CHP officers detained her as the ICE agent drove away.
For Lancaster, the message was loud and clear: Collusion. “Law enforcement will always show up to ‘protect’ ICE from the people but will never show up to protect the people from ICE,” she said. “This should be alarming to every resident given the federal government’s blatant disregard our constitutional rights and well-documented escalation of violence.”
The SBResiste volunteers watch for federal immigration agents daily. Their training emphasizes following the law and being safe, said Ana Garcia, a member of the group. “We tell folks they are within their rights to follow any federal agent in their community,” Garcia said. However, “Do not give them a reason to have you pulled over.”
Garcia explained that the training includes warnings that federal agents will maneuver to lose the observer, including brake-checking, running red lights, and illegal U-turns. “Unfortunately, ICE agents purposely drive erratically. We tell people, ‘If they run a red light, do not follow them through,’” Garcia said.
During her own observations of federal agents, Garcia said she’s been stopped by the CHP twice. As for the ICE agent’s version of the events of January 7, she could only say, “Liar.”
Garcia is not alone in that assessment, and the mendacity comes from the top. ICE falls under the Department of Homeland Security, which is led by Kristi Noem, who falsely wrote in a prepublication memoir that she’d met with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, George Will reminded in his Washington Post column on January 27. And Noem’s early claims about Alex Pretti — that he “attacked” officers — and Renee Good — that she was a “domestic terrorist” — stretch the truth to the breaking point.
The CHP’s Rogers said the January 7 incident was the first he’d heard of in Goleta, and he noted the agency was focused on safety, crime, and community trust. However, video reports from around California show CHP officers stopping observers as they follow ICE agents. Some videos show preferential treatment accorded to the federal agents; others record CHP officers contradicting themselves on the circumstances of the stop.
Given the lethal tactics ICE is employing nationwide, the perception of collusion between CHP and ICE is bitterly felt among those who rub up against them in Santa Barbara.
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