After 4-1/2 hours of public comment and discussion at its Feb. 5 meeting, the Santa Maria Planning Commission voted 3-1, with Commissioner Robert Dickerson dissenting, to approve a planned development permit for construction of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing facility in Santa Maria.
More than 2,000 people showed up to the meeting—the majority of whom was vehemently opposed to the project. Men, women, and children carrying neon signs and sporting stickers emblazoned with the words “NO ICE” flooded the fairpark grounds and poured out onto Thornburg Street.
According to ICE officials, the proposed office would serve as a processing facility for undocumented inmates coming out of the Lompoc Penitentiary, the California Men’s Colony, and the San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbra county jails. ICE representative Steve Finn said it takes his office approximately two to three hours to fingerprint, photograph, and interview the inmates before transporting them south to detention centers in Camarillo and Los Angeles.
The Santa Maria facility would include three holding cells: two that can house a maximum of six people, and one for solitary confinement.
Finn told the commission the single-person cell would be used for a criminal who is sick or a woman or a juvenile.
Speakers voiced concerns that the facility would separate families, devalue nearby properties on McCoy Lane, and hurt the city’s overall economy.
The majority of the commissioners ultimately disagreed with the crowd. Commissioners Fred Quigley, Etta Waterfield, and Rodger Brown all mentioned that approval of the project as proposed would give city government more say in how ICE operates in the area.
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Commissioner Dickerson said he opposed the project because he thought it would have a detrimental effect on the city’s economy and the mental health of many of its immigrant farm workers.
Commissioner Adrian Andrade recused himself because he lives less than 500 feet away from the proposed project site.
The project now moves on to the City Council for final consideration.
This article appears in Feb 13-20, 2014.