County supervisors comment on recent ICE activity across the Central Coast

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Santa Barbara County supervisors echoed one mutual frustration while discussing the July 10 ICE raids at Glass House Farms sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo: a lack of information.

“I think this the first time in 15 years that I don’t even know who to go to for information. That’s the scary thing,” 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino said at the Board of Supervisors’ July 15 meeting. 

Lavagnino described a recent trip he took with 4th District Supervisor Bob Nelson and U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) to the Santa Maria ICE office on Century Street.

“We just wanted to go and find out what’s going on, … and honestly left there with not a lot of information,” Lavagnino said. “We were assured, … that at least the Santa Maria ICE facility was supposedly going to target or had been targeting only folks that were either coming out of the federal prison or that had a warrant out for their arrest. Violent criminals.”

One ICE agent he spoke to “kind of shrugged his shoulders” in response to some questions though, Lavagnino added.

“He said, ‘Look, I can tell you what I’m doing, but I don’t know what Border Patrol’s doing. There’s another group that just came up from LA. They have different orders than [our] orders,’” Lavagnino recalled. “I want to be part of the solution, but I also feel like we’re blocked out, and I don’t really understand why.

“There’s a lot of chaos going on, and it’s very frustrating to kind of ‘be in charge,’” Lavagnino said while gesturing air quotes, “and not know what’s going on.”

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ICE agents and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers executed federal warrants during the July 10 raids, while arresting “at least 361 illegal aliens” collectively from both Carpinteria and Camarillo.

“At least 14 children have been rescued from potential exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking,” a press release from Homeland Security said. 

In terms of the federal arrests, Nelson said he believes “there’s a lot more to that story that will be told over the coming months.”

“I think there’s going to be a lot more information coming out,” Nelson said during the meeting. “There’s a lot of things that are being conflated out there, … a lot of rumors and anecdotes sometimes lead to people’s thoughts on policy, and I think that’s something we need to be careful about—making sure we have as much information as possible before we jump to certain conclusions.”

“There is a significant amount of people that are criminals that are undocumented,” Nelson continued. “I think it’s 5 to 10 a week that are coming out of the Lompoc prison. … These are people we don’t necessarily want re-released back into our community. These are people that have harmed our immigrant community. People who don’t have the privilege to stay here.”

Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann said there’s “a myth” perpetuating that ICE is “apprehending violent people, gang members, … but we are seeing in our county that it’s masked ICE officers. I mean, that is creepy. In unmarked vehicles, and they’re detaining people without identifying themselves.

“We recognize that federal government has a role in immigration, but this conduct really crosses a dangerous line,” she continued. “It’s chillingly reminiscent of the brown shirts in Germany, operating in secrecy, unchecked by oversight, and traumatizing entire communities.”

This article appears in Jul 17-27, 2025.