A resolution to acknowledge National Immigrants Day hit the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors’ desk nearly 24 hours to the minute after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained a father of five in Santa Maria.
“While dropping his daughter off at Allan Hancock College, he was taken into ICE custody. The circumstances of his arrest raise serious due process concerns,” Immigrant Legal Defense Center Executive Director Julissa Pena said at the supervisors’ Oct. 6 meeting.
“Today,” she continued, “a family that has called this community home for more than two decades is missing its father.”
Pena spoke to the board around 9:40 a.m. According to Hancock, at approximately 9:45 a.m., on Oct. 5, ICE officers arrived onto the Santa Maria campus to detain a parent in one of the school’s parking lots.
“This incident has caused concern across the Hancock community, and we remain united in supporting our undocumented students and students from mixed-status families,” the college said in a statement. “Allan Hancock College was not notified in advance that ICE officers would be on campus, and the college did not participate in or assist with the enforcement action.”
On behalf of the Immigrant Legal Defense Center, Pena told the Board of Supervisors that the nonprofit will “fight for this father’s freedom, … a father who has lived in this country since 2004.”
“He worked in our agricultural fields for more than a decade and is raising five children, including two children he adopted after their mother passed away,” Pena said.
She thanked the board for adopting its Oct. 6 resolution—acknowledging Oct. 28 as National Immigrants Day this year—at a time “when it matters so deeply, … today, at a moment of profound fear and uncertainty for immigrant families.”
The adopted resolution describes immigrants living in Santa Barbara County as “facing heightened violence from the Department of Homeland Security and [ICE] as part of targeted enforcement and racial profiling.”
Fourth District Supervisor Bob Nelson abstained from voting on the resolution, which passed 3-0 (5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino was absent).
“While I support National Immigrants Day, there’s some language in there that I can’t necessarily vote for,” Nelson said. “So, I’m going to actually abstain on this one.”
According to 805 Undocufund, the Hancock parent arrested was among more than a dozen Central Coast residents detained by ICE on Oct. 5.
That afternoon, Santa Maria City Councilmember Gloria Soto hosted an outdoor press conference at Hancock’s “free speech area,” in front of the school’s library.
“Our schools should be places of learning, not fear or anxiety,” she said in a statement. “I continue to call on my colleagues on the City Council to stop standing on the sidelines and take action.”
In March, Soto’s motion for the council to form an immigration ad hoc committee failed with a 2-2 vote (Mayor Alice Patino and Councilmember Gloria Flores dissented).
Representatives of Assemblymember Gregg Hart’s (D-Santa Barbara) and State Sen. Monique Limón’s (D-Santa Barbara) offices attended Soto’s press conference to express their offices’ mutual condemnations of the Hancock incident.
On behalf of Limón, district representative Carson Link read a statement.
“These raids instill fear in our students, cause chaos, and result in broken trust and effectiveness between the community and those charged to keep us safe,” Link read. “Our college campuses are meant to make our students feel safe, supported, and valued. Unfortunately, today a family has been torn apart, and a student has been ripped away from their parent.”
This article appears in October 8 – October 15, 2026.
