Santa Barbara Supes Support DACA

Board of Supervisors Chair Joan Hartmann approved the DACA resolution, stating, "Symbols are extremely important."

Two days before the DACA renewal application deadline, the Santa Barbara County Supervisors adopted on Tuesday a resolution to support the roughly 5,000 Dreamers in the county. Several immigration activists expressed gratitude for what critics dismissed as merely a symbolic gesture. “As our population grows in California we are going to need a strong healthy population,” one supporter said.

The three liberal progressive South County supervisors — Janet Wolf, Joan Hartmann, Das Williams — wholeheartedly supported the motion. “When it comes to our kids in our county I believe that it is our responsibility to take a stand,” Wolf said.

North County supervisors Steve Lavagnino and Peter Adam, however, abstained, arguing DACA was not within their purview. “For us, it might be nice to do, but I don’t find it very productive,” Lavagnino said.

But Hartmann, who chairs the board, had the last word: “Symbols are extremely important.”