U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) wrapped up a five-day Los Angeles-area operation on May 23. The operation netted 188 arrests, including 10 in Santa Barbara County—nine of which occurred in Santa Maria.
Hazel Davalos, community organizing director for the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE), said family members and friends of at least two of the Santa Maria arrest cases are connected with her organization.
Davalos told the Sun she was notified of both arrests by staff at Santa Maria High School. One of the men arrested is the brother of a student at the high school, and the other is the father of a student in the school’s special education program.
Davalos said that in both cases, regardless of the men’s potential criminal histories, it’s important to focus on the human element of deportation.
“Regardless of what he was taken for, now there’s a mother left to raise her child with disabilities on her own,” she said of the special education student’s father. She added that the man was arrested as the result of a home raid.
“That child had to bear witness and see his father taken away and have guns pointed at him in his own home,” Davalos said. “Hearing that side of the story, I think we have to see how these deportations can really have a ripple effect with families in our community.”
According to a news release from ICE, the operation targeted at-large criminal aliens, illegal re-entrants, and immigration fugitives. Of those who were arrested with prior criminal convictions, most had been convicted of crimes related to drug offenses, domestic violence, driving under the influence, battery, or sex crimes.
Davalos argued that while suspected criminals should face the justice system, they should also have the chance to return to their homes and families after rehabilitation.
“Just like anybody else, after they serve their time, they should be able to come back to their community and their family and have a chance to get their life on the right track,” she said. “In these situations, there’s an opportunity to let the criminal justice system do its job and allow that person a second chance.”
Nineteen people who were arrested in the operation had no known prior criminal conviction, according to the ICE release.
The people arrested by ICE during this operation comprised 177 men and 11 women from 11 countries, though the vast majority was from Mexico.
Since President Donald Trump signed executive orders in January to strengthen immigration enforcement, ICE has arrested more than 41,000 suspected illegal immigrants nationwide—nearly 40 percent more than in the same time period in 2016, according to the agency’s news release.
A previous version of this story misstated the number of people ICE arrested in Santa Barbara County.
This article appears in Jun 1-8, 2017.