Arrests by the Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents along California’s Central Coast have ramped up since they started earlier this year. The US government has committed a $30 billion to ICE removal operations. This is part of a broader $170 billion immigration enforcement initiative. On the weekend of July 6-7, ICE agents made several more arrests in the Santa Barbara and Carpinteria communities, raising alarms.
Highlights
- On the weekend of July 6–7, ICE made several arrests across Santa Barbara and Carpinteria.
- ICE agents are refusing to identify themselves during these arrests, wearing only a “Police” vest for identification.
- These arrests are part of a larger immigration enforcement initiative under the current US administration.
Agents Have Refused to Present Identification in Videotaped Interactions
On Sunday, July 6, 2025, at 11:30 am, two masked agents detained a young man on Santa Barbara’s Cacique Street. Bystanders were able to record the interaction, which was posted on 805 Immigrant Coalition’s Instagram account, showing one agent identified only by a “Police” vest. When asked to present identification, they refused to provide a badge or name.
View this post on Instagram
The next morning, another agent refused to identify himself while arresting another man in a Smart & Final parking lot despite repeated requests. This interaction was also recorded by passersby. Witnesses reported that ICE has been using unmarked cars linked to similar operations in Oxnard and Simi Valley.
On Tuesday, July 8, 805 UndocuFund reported around 7:00 a.m. near Eucalyptus Street in Carpinteria, ICE broke the window of a resident’s work truck and detained one person while neighbors attempted to question the agents.
View this post on Instagram
Additional sightings early Tuesday morning include Coronel Place, Castillo and Montecito Streets, and Rancheria Streets, all in Santa Barbara’s westside neighborhood.
The 805 UndocuFund and 805 Immigrant Coalition have stated that these operations may last through July 16, which negatively impacted 4th of July celebrations within immigrant communities across the county.
Community members can support families affected by these arrests by donating to the 805UndocuFund’s Emergency Assistance Fund. The fund has provided legal aid, housing, transportation, and reunification support for those caught in deportation proceedings with the $28,000 raised to date.
Advocates are urging residents to monitor ICE activity and urging them to stay indoors during enforcement sweeps. More information about the 805UndocuFund’s work can be found on its website.
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“Tom Homan, as the U.S. border czar, has been demanding that people stop comparing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to Nazis and the Gestapo.” What a snowflake. Stop acting like the Gestapo and we’ll stop calling you the Gestapo.
The awful part is that this will be happening more now that they’ve increased the ICE budget at the expense of healthcare for poor people.
What is happening in our country is shameful. We allowed cruelty and abject evil take power and now we site basically helpless as a small portion of Americans cheer for the forced removal of hard working people who have broken no laws other than being here without proper documentation. Heck, these ICE cowards are even targeting those who are trying to do it the legal way by snatching people from court hearings where they’re following our laws and grabbing those who have been here legally but have had their protections removed by the most despicable POS this country has ever seen.
There are no more excuses for this. It’s not about criminals. Never has been.
The Obama administration formally removed approximately 3.1 million individuals, more than any other president in American history. Also, being here illegally IS breaking the law, the punishment is deportation nothing new here.
KAPO – you’re ignoring all the major, major differences. Watch or read the news, not memes or Truth Social posts. You’ll quickly learn how wrong you are about comparing this to Obama.
Yes, BASIC – “facts are facts,” which is why I recommended learning them. I’d say the same to you, but your struggles with basic English are getting worse. Maybe some warm milk and cartoon are more your pace.
So are you saying Ka Pono is incorrect, or are you just flailing to start a series of rando insults as usual?
BASIC – where did I insult him? Oh wait, you don’t read. Sorry.
And yes, absolutely I am saying he is incorrect to compare deportation tactics under Obama to what is happening now. I specifically said that, too. Are you going to honestly say this is the same thing? Did Obama send the Marines and National Guard against the will of Governors to assist unidentified masked thugs in their detention of grandparents at church?
You should really read. Also, learn facts.
Again, knothead – you’re saying Ka Pono’s numbers for Obama deportations are wrong. No one’s talking about comparing “tactics” and deflecting with other political crap, except you. How about the number he cited? You call people out for being liars everyday here. You’re the one lying.
Come on BASIC – where did I lie?
he didn’t lie basic. you’re just trying, very hard, to instigate a fight as per usual with you. hey, if you’re for whats going on in our nation, you should just move…go….move to Russia.
BASIC – “Again, knothead – you’re saying Ka Pono’s numbers for Obama deportations are wrong.”
No, I am saying exactly what I said and you don’t understand: “how wrong you are about comparing this to Obama.”
Now show me where I “lied.”
That’s true, and the fact that it happened withOUT ripping kids out of parents’ arms, or sending immigrants to random high security prisons in foreign countries, or threatening them with alligators and pythons, or unidentifiable masked thugs showing up at birthday parties, neonatal units, elementary schools, and work places literally kidnapping people off the street should prove to you that it’s not about immigration reform. It’s about cruelty and inflicting as much pain as possible. The current president is an amoral bully and has surrounded himself with drooling sycophants eager to show how him cruel they are. If you had a shred of decency you would be ashamed of your support of Trump.
Yes, with due process afforded. Not masked, unidentified people kidnapping folks off the street, holding them in unknown places, including kidnapping American citizens (including CHILDREN) who happen to be brown. If you cannot see the differences here, then you aren’t even trying.
and Obama didn’t need the gestapo and it’s inhumane tactics to treat people like criminals when they themselves are the criminals. It is actually illegal for feeds to cover their faces and not show ID. So once again, the tables seem to turn on your party. The party of law and order run by a convicted felon that married an illegal immigrant. Awesome. You guys are just amazing. Sowing fear. Abusing people. Destroying property. Instigating violence and fear. Those are all definitions of a terrorist. Chew on that for a while pal….
What is shameful is the way the previous administration allowed millions upon millions of unvetted immigrants to enter our nation without due process. Now the adults are in the room and must clean up this mess. Will people be wrongfully detained or arrested? It’s unfortunate, but of course they will. People are wrongfully detained or arrested daily for various reasons, but that doesn’t mean you should stop enforcing the law of the land.
Look, Democrats and liberals seized the reins of power in 2020 and proceeded to execute an epic face-plant. You are free to complain and whine; frankly, I get a kick out of it. Denigrating law enforcement is shameful, and endangering their lives is going way too far.
Now, proceed with the name-calling and insulting in response to my post if you would like. Doing so confirms the fact that liberals do not have a logical response to opposing opinions.
The total number of undocumented persons in this country hasn’t really changed all that much in the last 20 years. It’s fluctuated, sure.
ok. i’ll play your game.
you state the prior admin allowed all of these immigrants in the US. However, people being detained and disappeared have been here for decades, working, paying taxes, supporting the communities they reside in. Explain that.
I’m glad you get a kick out of this. I also find it obnoxious that you want to stand on your soap box and spout off nonsense and support these ICE terrorists, but you hide your name. Just like the ICE agents. They hide.
The people rounded up early Tuesday morning Coronel Place, Castillo and Montecito Streets, and Rancheria Streets, all in Santa Barbara’s westside neighborhood, were parents, teens, students. This is MY NEIGHBORHOOD. I watched these terrorists hiding their faces, unmarked cars, chasing people, refusing to ID themselves, pointing guns at people, and being general overall rude @zzholez about the entire thing. They beat and kicked my neighbor. Yeah we got involved. I challenged one of them, big tough guy, to take off his mask and step up. I told him until he provides actual proof of being federal law enforcement, he’s nothing more than a kidnapper. He laughed, said he doesn’t care. My friend who is twice this guys size stepped up. A fight was about to happen. They threatned to arrest us all. We outnumbered them.Three of them, 8 of us. They threw him, literally, into their unmarked Hundai and sped off. They got a rock tossed at their window. They tried to enter a private and secured building near my condo and were met with a lot of resistance and said they would be back. This is nothing more than terroists and kidnappers. and if you think THAT is law enforcement, you’re part of the problem. Your dear leader is a convicted felon, yet you want to say he’s in the right doing this? Sorry pal, Obama deported more than any prezie ever and did it with some humanity and dignity. Learn from that.
KNEIN – good for you and your neighbors! Way to stand up to this wretchedness. We all need to resist and do everything we can to protect our otherwise law-abiding and hard working community members who are at risk.
hey if the people were actual criminals, id feel different about what went down. These are hard working people, law abiding people. People that support and fund our communities. The only criminals present in my hood are the terrorists that are kidnapping people. SBPD had no notification about these raids. I’ve checked with some friends there. They are as pissed about this as we are.
Exactly! No one, NO ONE, is opposing the detention and removal of violent criminals who aren’t here legally. I would completely support that. But that’s not who they’re targeting.
Some great stats as of June 15, 2025:
Conviction ICE Book-Ins Share of Book-Ins
Property 7,606 3.7%
Violent 14,068 6.9%
Nonviolent Vice 9,218 4.5%
Immigration 14,227 7.0%
Traffic 14,056 6.9%
Other 11,435 5.6%
None 133,687 65.4%
Total 204,297 100.0%
https://www.cato.org/blog/65-people-taken-ice-had-no-convictions-93-no-violent-convictions
So, LESS THAN 7% of those who ICE has harassed, abused and detained are actually violent criminals.
FAR MORE THAN HALF have no criminal record whatsoever.
This is why people are pissed. The ICE cowards with body armor, assault weapons of every type from automatic rifles to armored vehicles, helicopters and horses (see LA the other day) are not bothering with the real problem, they’re going after our law abiding, peaceful neighbors.
This is why we’re mad. If you people (you know who I’m talking to) are OK with this, then you’re the problem, not the immigrants.
Racists will never win. Just ask the Nazis how it ended up for them.
If they try and break into someone’s home without a warrant or identification any homeowner or resident would be justified in using deadly force to defend themselves.
ANON – Wow…. where to start….
1) That’s not what “due process” is. It’s not how you enter a country. Due process refers the Constitutional right of all people in US jurisdiction to be afforded the basic rights of law when being detained (loss of liberty).
2) You’re ok with wrongful arrest, sad. Difference here is, without due process , people are being removed from their homes and sent to other countries in some cases when they have committed no crimes. This is exactly what due process is there for – to ensure people who are being deprived of liberty (freedom) are legally allowed to be.
3) “Enforcing the law of the land.” The US Constitution is the law of the land. It is not being enforced, it is being violated in many cases (see due process). Further, being here without proper immigration paperwork is not a criminal offense. Crossing the border illegally after being deported is a felony, sure, but most people being harrassed, abused and detained have no criminal record and a large number of those have been arrested while IN IMMIGRATION COURT trying to do things “the legal way.” Also, hundreds of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers who were LEGALLY here with protections against deportation have now just lost that protection and are being harassed, abused and detained. So no, it’s not about “following the law” anymore.
4) When law enforcement uses tactics that terrorize and brutalize non-violent, non-criminals who are just trying to live their lives, pay taxes, and obey our laws, then yes, they will be criticized. I haven’t seen or heard of any ICE with their lives in danger as they carry out these awful operations. They are heavily armed, masked, unidentified and backed with tanks, grenades, helicopters, and body armor. Getting yelled at for being terrible humans is not putting their lives in danger.
I know you, like the other MAGA Cons here, keep begging for insults, but you won’t get one from me here. I’ve provided a fact-based, insult-free response.
I hope it helps you better understand why so many, liberals and conservatives alike, are so opposed to what Trump is doing.
ICE are literally masked, armed and anonymous hoodlums. They are profiling, harassing, and detaining people without cause based on appearance.
You’re fine with extrajudicial actions, you’re fine with unconstitutional acts, you’re fine with the Trump administration breaking the law repeatedly. Yep, that’s you.
The “(ERO)” officers in the KEYT report/video of the Monday morning raid in the grocery store parking lot where wearing their (ERO) attire…
https://keyt.com/news/santa-barbara-s-county/2025/07/07/ice-raid-in-carpinteria-shared-on-social-media/
Without due process, wearing masks and failing to identify themselves, this is not an arrests it is kidnapping. This is something you see in North Korea, Russia or China.
Trumps family is a family of immigrants many of whom were not here legally. His wife Melania Trump entered the U.S. in August 1996 on a visitor visa, which permits looking for work but not performing paid work. She accepted ten modeling jobs, earning over $20,000, between September and October 1996.
She obtained an H-1B work visa in October 1996.
Friedrich Trump, Trumps grandfather married a woman from his German hometown, Kallstadt, where his parents had owned vineyards, and attempted to return home with the small fortune he’d made in New York, Seattle and the Yukon. When his draft dodging became known the couple lost their Bavarian citizenship and were obliged to return to America for good. They had three children: Trump’s father, Fred, was the middle child born in t New York City in 1905,. Fred Trump would become one of the city’s most successful businessmen, amassing a fortune even as many around him slumped into financial ruin.
Two of Trump’s three wives became naturalized American citizens, originally from the Czech Republic and Slovenia. Only one of his five children, Tiffany, is the child of two American-born citizens.
These ICE raids are deeply unAmerican. Melania should have some empathy since she basically did what they are arresting locals for. It really isn’t about immigration it is just racism pretending to be patriotism. Enough already. Stop the over reach. Stop Trump and the spineless enablers.
“But it’s also worth assessing who will benefit from the GOP’s rearrangement of fiscal priorities. The answer is not only the rich and corporations; it’s also America’s growing immigration industrial complex.
Trump’s new mega-law invests $178 billion in additional immigration enforcement over the next decade, primarily through new funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
To be clear, this is not merely about “border security,” which has significant bipartisan appeal. Democrats tried to beef it up last year, though Trump ordered Republican lawmakers not to cooperate. It’s largely for more detention centers and boots on the ground within the U.S. interior. This means spending more dollars to round up gardeners, home health aides, grad students, nannies, construction workers, etc.
A dollar figure this huge can be challenging to wrap one’s arms around. So here are some ways to put it in context:
Trump has some flexibility on when he spends the new money Congress gave him (which comes in addition to the usual annual appropriations that immigration-related agencies receive), but
** it’s reasonable to assume that this year’s annual budget for ICE alone will be larger than that for most other law enforcement agencies combined. This includes the FBI, Bureau of Prisons, Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. **
ICE spending this year will also be larger than most other countries’ military budgets.”
Catherine Rampell 7/8/25
805UndocuFund Emergency Assistance Fund donation site:
https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/MjMwMTU5
Honest question: Are these folks being reported by neighbors or is ICE using some database to find them?
I’d be shocked if anyone’s being reported by their neighbors. How would a neighbor know the immigration status of anyone really unless they were close, and then why on the world would they be reporting them to the feds? Doesn’t add up to me.
BASIC – you’d be shocked to find out people in this town can be racist monsters? LOL yeah right. How many videos of neighborhood Karens (yeah yeah have your meltdown) have you seen where they demand immigration status and threaten to call ICE? You seriously believe that’s all fake or something?
Dude, I hate to break it to you, but there’s a TON of racist a holes in this country. It’s literally how Trump got elected.
the ICE terrorists arrested my friend, some neighbors, some teens, some people that have lived on the westside for over a decade.
I’m off of Rancheria
So, I’ve not heard the question asked, though it might have been asked somewhere unknown to me. The question – once some of those masked failure-as-humans actually kill people and then jump in their unmarked car abscond, then how does that work? There is no way that this will not play out eventually(if it hasn’t already and we just haven’t heard yet). Questioning minds want to know!