Political Watch: July 24, 2025

Your weekly dose of local news, arts, and culture. Our News Wire newsletter lands every Thursday with the stories shaping Northern Santa Barbara County

SEND ME THE HEADLINES!

•Retired U.S. Navy commander and California District 24 candidate for congress Bob Smith issued a statement on July 15 regarding the July 10 ICE raids at Glass House Farms sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo. Smith credited reports from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with info on the raids he summarized. While executing federal warrants at the two sites, agents rescued “14 trafficked minors from Mexico and Honduras from potential forced labor, exploitation, and trafficking amid a crisis of over 300,000 missing border children,” Smith wrote. He added that California law prohibits people under age 21 from cannabis work. He also wrote that U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) visited the Carpinteria raid site on July 10 “not to demand answers about the exploited minors, but to ‘inspect’ and ‘criticize’ agents,” while “effectively shielding a major donor facing scrutiny for potential child trafficking and labor issues.” “Rather than supporting law enforcement or the victims, my opponent, Congressman Salud Carbajal, defended the farm, overlooking child labor exploitation. Glass House Farms’ leadership contributed $8,800 directly to him from President Graham Farrar, whose farm is now under federal criminal investigation for child labor violations,” Smith wrote. “ICE reports Carbajal participated in a violent mob that obstructed justice, even doxxing an agent by sharing his business card with rioters who left the officer bloodied from thrown rocks.” In a July 14 statement, Carbajal described DHS and ICE’s reports on the Carpinteria raid as inaccurate and misleading. “DHS and ICE conducted their raid using a disturbing and disproportionate level of force, both on the farmworkers they were targeting and the peaceful protesters who gathered to defend their neighbors. … Claims of ‘doxxing’ and ‘violent mobs’ are attempts to deflect attention from their unjust tactics,” Carbajal stated. “I witnessed agents, in full military gear, fire smoke canisters and other projectiles into a crowd of peaceful civilians. Just before I arrived at the scene, witnesses told me the agents threw a stun grenade into the crowd. Several civilians were injured, including a child. … I went to the scene to seek answers and represent my constituents. In response to my questions, an ICE Public Affairs Specialist voluntarily gave me his card in full public view of the dozens of TV cameras, reporters, and livestreaming smartphones that were around us to film the interaction.”

•U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) recently criticized President Donald Trump’s $9 billion rescissions package to revoke congressionally appropriated funding for public broadcasting and foreign aid. “On the heels of giving away $4.5 trillion in tax breaks to corporations and billionaires, Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are now claiming we can’t afford essential public broadcasting services and important foreign aid programs,” Padilla said in a July 17 statement. “Republicans’ cuts to public broadcasting will put lives at risk by undermining the last line for lifesaving emergency alerts in so many communities across the country, just days after the devastating floods in Texas. At the same time, their cuts to foreign aid will end low-cost, high-impact programs while undermining U.S. national security, creating a vacuum in global leadership that China and Russia are more than happy to fill.” Padilla described the rescinded funds as negotiated and approved in a good-faith and bipartisan manner. “By breaking those commitments, Republicans have made it exponentially harder for themselves to seek and secure the support they’ll need from Democrats to fund the government later this year,” Padilla stated. 

This article appears in Jul 24 – Aug 3, 2025.