The chants of protesters mingled with the sounds of traffic on the corner of Broadway and Main in Santa Maria during the evening of May 1.
“Hey Obama, don’t deport my mama!” one protestor said.
“Que queremos? Justicia! Cuando la queremos? Ahora!” another said.
Organizers from local groups gathered at two locations in Santa Maria on May Day to protest the new Immigrations and Customs Enfocement (ICE) facility, as well as bring awareness to labor issues. The first day of the month, or International Worker’s Day, commemorates the demonstration that took place at Haymarket Square in Chicago in 1886. It’s celebrated annually by labor groups.
The first rally began at noon in front of the new ICE facility near West McCoy Lane and South Depot Road. Representatives from the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE), United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 5 based in Salinas, and Santa Maria City Councilmember Terri Zuniga gathered at the building for about an hour. The protests continued later that evening in downtown Santa Maria at Pearlman Park. By 7 p.m., the group swelled to about 70 people.
ICE is a contentious subject in Santa Maria. Around 1,200 people came to the Fairpark in March 2014 to denounce construction of the agency’s new facility. The City Council opted to go ahead with the project. Zuniga voted against it.
Community organizers opposed to the new facility said it promotes fear among migrant workers who come to the city and work in the local fields. Some wonder if the new facility will encourage raids from local authorities.
“The hope we have is that our local law enforcement resources are not used to detain and separate immigrant families,” said Hazel Davalos, organizing director for CAUSE.
According to ICE officials, the new facility will be used for interviewing and briefly holding undocumented inmates coming into ICE custody after being released from jails and prisons in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.
It replaces the field office inside Lompoc’s federal prison that the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations division has used since 1996. The facility should be operational by the summer, according to ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley.
“Last year, the UFCW made it a priority to stop deportations from ICE,” said Juan Cervantes, an organizer for a local chapter of the UFCW. “We don’t think it’s right for ICE to have too much power to separate families.”
This article appears in May 7-14, 2015.
