A Day of Action Against ICE in Santa Barbara

All across Santa Barbara County, people took part in a widespread day of action against ICE on January 30, with public demonstrations, student walkouts, and fundraisers in support of immigrants as part of the nationwide general shutdown on the same day. 

One of the most powerful moments of the day came during what was a small press conference called by local elected officials at the Santa Barbara Courthouse. As State Assemblymember Gregg Hart was beginning to give his comments to a crowd of a few dozen community members and media, the sounds of cheers and honking horns could be heard approaching from a couple of blocks away. 

As the sounds grew closer and louder, the source became clear. A group of several hundred junior high and high school students — who had walked out from their schools and held their own demonstration a few blocks away at De la Guerra Plaza — came around the corner of Anapamu and Anacapa streets, holding handmade signs high over their heads and chanting in unison: “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it! Now!” 

When the adults realized what was happening, they paused to allow the students to take their place up front and let their voices be heard. The youth cheered loudly and spread across the courthouse lawn. Some climbed onto the sandstone blocks of the courthouse arches. One student held a sign saying “You love our culture but not our people.” Another teenager raised a skateboard with “FUCK ICE” scrawled in bold black letters.

The walkout was organized and led by an 8th grader from Santa Barbara Junior High who asked to be identified only by their first name, Alexis. As the press conference began again, Alexis took a spot right alongside the elected officials and took to the podium to speak.

Alexis said the walkout wasn’t organized for attention, “but because silence has never protected anyone.”

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“We are teenagers, and people often say we are too young to understand what’s happening in this world, but we do understand fear,” Alexis said to cheers from classmates in the crowd. “We understand injustice, and we understand what it means to watch our friends, neighbors, and classmates live everyday worried that their families could be torn apart.” 

Alexis called for an end to the aggressive ICE activity in Santa Barbara, and called on local leaders to protect the community and “choose compassion over cruelty.”

“We are also here for those who can’t speak or those who are too afraid to use their voice,” Alexis said. “Many immigrants cannot protest with us without risking their lives, their freedom, their families, and their future. So we stand here for them. We stand here because having a voice means using it, especially when others can’t. Being young does not mean we are powerless. It means we are brave enough to imagine something better. We are here.” 

The press conference also featured speeches from at least a dozen elected officials, community organizers, school boardmembers, and religious leaders from across the county. These included Assemblymember Hart; County Supervisors Laura Capps and Roy Lee; City Councilmembers from Santa Maria, Goleta, Santa Barbara, and Carpinteria; and representatives for State Senate President Monique Limón and Congressmember Salud Carbajal.

Primitiva Hernandez, 805 UndocuFund executive director, spoke about working on the ground with Rapid Response Network volunteers who have been documenting and reporting ICE activity across the Central Coast. She thanked the volunteers and community defense groups who have been protecting their neighbors, such as SBResiste, Carp Sin Fronteras, and Union Del Barrio.

“These are the people that are showing up when it’s dangerous, when it’s uncomfortable, and when it matters most,” Hernandez said.

Since the Trump administration began its shift to more aggressive immigration enforcement, 805 UndocuFund has distributed more than $600,000 to hundreds of families that were impacted by deportations, and in 2025 the Rapid Response Network confirmed more than 1,300 arrests on the Central Coast at the hands of ICE, DHS, and Border Patrol.

Hernandez has repeatedly warned of increasing ICE presence in the region. In June 2025, she stood in the same spot at the courthouse with tears in her eyes pleading for city and county leaders to take decisive action in support of immigrants. A month later, federal agencies in full combat gear swarmed Glass House farms in Carpinteria and deployed tear gas on community members. During the last week of 2025, ICE and DHS arrested more than 150 people in the span of four days.

“This did not happen over time,” she said. “It happened while warnings were being ignored. And do not ignore my words when I say the worst is yet to come, if nothing changes.”

County Supervisor Capps said she would do everything possible to protect immigrants, including pushing for policies that create ICE-free zones on county property. 

“We have to do what we can,” Capps said. “The tide is gonna turn. We are a county of immigrants. We are a nation of immigrants, and immigrants are absolutely what’s best about America — not what’s bad.”

Speakers called on Sheriff Bill Brown to stand up against the intrusion of ICE in the community. Several criticized the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office for cooperating with federal authorities by providing access to county jails and refusing to enforce state laws preventing law enforcement from wearing masks.

Santa Barbara City Councilmember Wendy Santamaria said she was heartbroken and angry to see the “brutalization of our community members” in her Eastside district, where a neighborhood resident was pepper-sprayed by an ICE officer in an incident caught on video on January 28. Santamaria — who also showed up Wednesday night to a protest in response to the pepper-spray incident — called on local leaders to “step up or get out of the way.” She also said that local law enforcement must stand with vulnerable community members.

“We are demanding an end to colluding with ICE,” Councilmember Santamaria said.

Action Across the City

The courthouse demonstration was just one of many ways to participate in the day of action against ICE. Students participated in walkouts at Santa Barbara and Carpinteria high schools, and at Santa Barbara, Goleta Valley, La Colina, and La Cumbre junior high schools. 

At Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, a group of nurses and hospital employees gathered in front of the hospital with signs speaking out against ICE and in support of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were both killed by federal immigration in Minneapolis this month. Many of the hospital workers were especially troubled by the killing of Pretti, who worked as a nurse at a hospital for military veterans.

“What happened is horrifying,” said Jessica Bannister, a hospital employee who came out to the protest during her lunch break. “Silence, right now, is complicity.”

Dozens of businesses participated by closing their doors in solidarity with the general shutdown, or by donating part of their profits to immigrant support groups.

Over at Leadbetter Beach, a large crowd gathered to join in SBResiste and 805 UndocuFund’s “Line in the Sand” beach day to protest ICE and spend time in solidarity. Nearly 400 people gathered along the roadway and grass area, holding signs reading “ICE Is Not Welcome Here” and “Hands Off Our Neighbors, Coworkers, and Friends” while cars honked as they passed.

SBResiste organized the beach day as a way for people to get together in public while still participating in the national shutdown against ICE. Attendees were encouraged to bring snacks to share, and local businesses El Sitio, Hooked Seafood, and Dart Coffee provided some free food and refreshments.

Ana Garcia, a volunteer with SBResiste and organizer of the beach day, said that being in community is “paramount to building a movement.” 

“We want you to plug in,” Garcia said.
”We want you to know that there’s space for you in this resistance. And, you know, all gifts and talents are welcome. Whatever you can offer, there’s a way that it fits into our movement.”

Some of those in attendance were local residents and high school students who wanted to speak up about immigration enforcement in their communities.

“I’m scared,” said San Marcos High School student Celeste Castillo. “ICE agents have been at my grandma’s workplace. I hope that the immigrant community is listening to this and know that we have their back. And if anything happens, we are here to support them.”

Amrie Reveles, a 9th-grade student at Santa Barbara High School, said her family also had firsthand experience with immigration enforcement. 

“ICE raided my grandpa’s job in Oxnard, and he had to hide,” Reveles said. “We didn’t have any contact with him for two days. Once he came back home, he refused to go to work or go on the streets. I really want to make a change by being here.”

Nestor Manzanares contributed to the reporting for this article.