In 1776, armed British troops occupied American cities from Boston to Philadelphia. These military troops shot innocent civilians, grabbed people off the streets without warrants, and stormed into homes without notice.
Our country was founded to prevent these abuses from a King.
Sadly, 250 years later, our cities are again occupied by troops only, this time, they are American troops occupying American cities.
Our neighbors are not safe from state-sanctioned violence and our civil liberties are being trampled by our own federal government. It is long past time for this nightmare to end.
Over the past year, our community has come together to denounce the horror and chaos of the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants, on our communities, and on our civil liberties.
Our community has experienced heavy-handed raids that leave tear gas and smoke grenades behind as families are torn apart.
We have seen hardworking neighbors taken away on their way to and from work — arrested by masked, poorly trained agents.
We have seen community members pepper-sprayed and pushed down for documenting the actions of federal agents and exercising their right to free speech.
We have felt moral outrage as our fellow Americans — Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good — have been killed by our government.
In each of these instances, our community has united to say: enough. Enough of the chaos. Enough of the cruelty. Enough of the policies that make our communities less safe.
As your assemblymember, I’m proud to work every day with Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón and Congressman Salud Carbajal to fight back against these authoritarian abuses.
President Pro Tem Limón — the first mother, and the first Latina, to lead the California State Senate — is leading our Legislature in supporting immigrant families and holding ICE accountable.
Congressman Carbajal is working tirelessly in Washington to hold administration officials accountable and demand immediate policy change.
In Sacramento, Senator Limón and I helped pass the No Secret Police Act — requiring all law enforcement officers, including federal agents, to show their faces while enforcing the law. Never in my lifetime did I think our streets would be filled with masked agents operating on behalf of the president. The masks must come off — immediately.
We passed the Family Preparedness Act — strengthening protections for schools and child care centers, and ensuring that trusted loved ones can care for children if a parent is taken into custody.
Last year, I authored and passed the California FACTS Act — requiring that deaths occurring during immigration arrests and those occurring in custody to receive independent medical investigations. The Trump administration has worked to prevent impartial investigations into these deaths. Californians demand the facts.
The Legislature is now advancing a package of bills to further protect Californians from ICE — including legislation to allow Californians to take legal action against ICE agents who violate their rights, to hold private detention facilities accountable, and to keep ICE out of our state courthouses.
The State of California has sued the president more than 55 times over the past year for violations of Californians’ rights. Attorney General Rob Bonta has the full backing of the Legislature to continue standing up forcefully for the people being targeted right now.
I applaud our District Attorney, John Savrnoch, for standing up in this moment. DA Savrnoch has gone on the record opposing militarized, quota-based immigration enforcement that harms our communities. He recognizes the real damage occurring from these operations. We need law enforcement executives at every level to speak up for the marginalized and for our Constitution.
And that especially includes our elected Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown. Sheriff Brown represents all of us and also has a prominent national leadership role as President of the Major County Sheriffs of America. Sheriff Brown, we need your voice to tell the White House that ICE’s militarized immigration tactics are making us all less safe.
Our state government will continue to use every policy and legal tool available to defend our communities. But we also need continued action from everyday people. I am so proud of the tens of thousands of Central Coast residents who have made their voices heard.
We must make it clear that we do not accept the erosion of our rights. We must hold strong to our values of liberty and justice for all. And we must continue creating a historic record of what is happening in this moment — because throughout American history, real change has always depended on concerned Americans standing up when things go wrong.
We are in this together, and we are not backing down.
This piece comes from Assemblymember Hart’s prepared remarks on the January 30 Day of Action across Santa Barbara.
