Does the county have any control over the federal government? What about the state?
No. That’s the answer I’m going to go with.
What have we done as a state? We’ve banned Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents from conducting their business at state courthouses—as in, arresting people. According to CalMatters, officers are doing it regardless.
Why? The Trump administration argues that it’s a safe space for apprehension. We passed the law under the previous Trump administration.
Despite that, California has passed new laws about how federal agents can conduct their business in the state, such as banning federal agents from masking and from school and hospital properties. But, as CalMatters states, “it’s unclear what California law enforcement can actually do to enforce the law.”
Still, Santa Barbara County hopped on board with the political policies designed to show support to immigrant communities in the face of Trump’s ICE more than to establish actual enforceable policy. Already, Trumpty Dumpty’s Department of Homeland Security minions have said they wouldn’t comply with the mask rule and court rulings seem to support that tact.
Great! So what’s the point?
“Wearing all of these masks and military garb, that raises tensions and makes people question whether you’re legitimate or not,” U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) said. “You’ve got to have some identifiable information.”
But how to hold them accountable to that? Can we? I guess we just have to keep trying.
Everyone is frustrated about how things are shaking out when it comes to immigration enforcement tactics that subvert the norm and “instill fear,” as 3rd District Supervisor Joan Hartmann put it. And nobody knows when these raids are happening, not even the local ICE facility, according to Carbajal.
So, the Board of Supervisors is doing its darndest to get what little information it can to help constituents and policymakers understand what the hell the federal government is doing in their own backyards. The county even filed a Freedom of Information Act request over the Glass House Farms raid.
Unsurprisingly, the county hasn’t heard back from the feds yet.
“We’ve been very frustrated,” 2nd District Laura Capps said. “At a minimum, we’re just trying to get basic information.”
The latest workaround? Asking the Sheriff’s Office to do more than report out annually in accordance with the TRUTH Act. Basically, once a year, the sheriff reports out its contacts with ICE over individuals in custody.
What the county wants from the sheriff now is more regular notifications about more than individuals in custody. If ICE lets the Sheriff’s Office know it’s conducting an operation so there aren’t any conflicts, the supervisors want to know.
Capps said they don’t expect advance notification, but after something has happened, “then we can be notified and there can be more transparency about how many people were detained.”
But if local ICE doesn’t know, I’m not sure local law enforcement will know either. But here’s to keeping my talons crossed that we get some information—anything really—so we aren’t guessing based on what people post on the Central Coast Chisme Facebook page.
The Canary gets information from trusted sources, only, whoever those people are. Send rumors and innuendo to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 2, 2025.