The Santa Maria City Council finally decided to weigh in on immigration enforcement activities, symbolically.
At the Jan. 20 council meeting, Councilmember Maribel Aguilera got to business before Councilmember Gloria Soto could even turn her mic on, requesting that the mayor put a resolution or proclamation on the agenda to send a “clear message that we do stand with immigrants.”
Aguilera’s campaign for county supervisor is in full force!
“My parents are immigrants. I personally picked strawberries as a child. I worked in the fields. I think a lot of us are feeling really fearful of what’s going on,” she said.
Lompoc made a proclamation in support of immigrants early last year. What finally pushed Santa Maria to do something? Was it the increased immigration arrests in Santa Maria around Christmas? Is it what’s happening in Minneapolis? Or is it Aguilera’s run for higher office?
Either way, Soto was probably miffed that she wasn’t the one who got to make the ask! Especially since she spoke about it during a press conference in early January about the uptick in arrests.
Soto quickly piggybacked on Aguilera, adding that the city could do more, asking that they “include language in there that can ensure the safety of residents.” That’s a big ask, considering that even a gigantic city with more resources can’t guarantee the safety of its residents, when ICE officers behave like renegades.
Mayor Alice Patino made the comments she almost always makes when the issue comes up: “Our police department does not enforce federal immigration laws or take part in immigration or enforcement operations.”
That’s very similar to what she said last spring when high school students marched to a City Council meeting asking for support from Santa Maria’s elected officials. Patino made her statement, Soto requested a resolution supporting what students were asking for, and everyone else was silent—including Aguilera.
Patino is right, though. Local law enforcement in California is banned from participating in ICE activities. Not only that, cities and counties aren’t always notified beforehand, as the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office has told county 2nd District Supervisor Laura Capps and her board colleagues.
“We don’t know if they’re coming; when they’re coming,” Patino said. “We have no control over them at all.”
Just like Del Cielo Mobile Estates residents have no control over whether their landlord sues the county over ordinances! The embattled residents rose up against their owner/manager/whatever-you-want-to-call-it over a $39 rent increase tied to litigation against the county—legal fees that were classified as “operational” expenses.
Del Cielo, pissed off because the county created a protective zone for senior mobile home parks in direct response to Del Cielo’s actions, sued the county over its ordinance to keep senior parks in those areas from becoming all-ages parks. Then, Del Cielo turned around and charged its seniors for the cost of the lawsuit.
That’s rich!
And it sort of seems like the county arbitrator thinks so as well.
“The park is not a party to the lawsuit. The entity that owns the park is. In what way is the lawsuit an activity of the park?” arbitrator John Derrick asked.
The Canary isn’t rich. Send a pittance to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in January 29 – February 5, 2026.