The last few days of 2025 were very different than the rest of the year when it came to immigration enforcement on the Central Coast.
An estimated 147 arrests were made in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties over a four-day period at the end of December, according to 805 UndocuFund Executive Director Primitiva Hernandez, including at least 87 in the city of Santa Maria. Immigration arrests have become a near daily occurrence across the area that 805 UndocuFund covers, Hernandez said on Jan. 5, adding that she received a report that someone was arrested in Santa Maria that day.
But what happened between Dec. 27 and 30 was outside the norm.
“If this is how 2025 came to a close, what can [the Central Coast] expect in 2026?” Hernandez said. “This is what we witnessed at the end of 2025, compared to what is typical in prior years. That should be alarming.”
Her organization receives reports of immigration arrests across the Tri-County area through the 805 Immigrant Rapid Response Network, a community-led initiative that aims to provide support and resources to undocumented individuals and families. When the network receives a report or phone call about an arrest, volunteers respond to the scene and reach out to the family.
“The number that we’re reporting on, our data, comes from confirmed and documented apprehensions. They are confirmed by our volunteers on the ground,” Hernandez said. “They are reported to the hotline, and we confirm with their family members.”
She called Santa Maria the epicenter of the recent wave of enforcement. Her group joined other advocacy organizations and local elected officials to draw attention to the issue with a press conference on Jan. 2 outside the ICE facility in Santa Maria.
The Sun reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and was directed to a press release posted on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) website.
ICE reported arresting 118 “illegal aliens” in Santa Barbara and SLO counties between Dec. 26 and 31.
“ICE ended 2025 with a surge operation in California targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the release. “In 2026, our law enforcement will continue to do what Gavin Newsom refused to do: make California safe again.”
The release detailed 11 of the arrests, including their names, photos, ages, and the crimes they were convicted of. Their crimes include DUIs, lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14, assault, and burglary.
Hernandez said that nationally, about 30 percent of those arrested as part of immigration enforcement operations have a criminal record, most of which are minor offenses like traffic violations. More than 70 percent of those being detained, she said, have no criminal record.
“Some of the patterns that we’ve documented, it’s reflective of systemic racial profiling,” she said. “The majority of the people were farmworkers, migrant, indigenous from the Mixtec, Zapotec, and other Indigenous peoples, so people who are very, very vulnerable. … Very, very prone to abuses of power.”
This article appears in January 8 – January 15, 2026.
when ICE screws upthet publish [propoganda regarding killers and child rapist. Yet why did they let those people go in the first place. i think its a lie. There are not that many killers and child rapist illegals out there.