[Update: Tue., July 8, 2025, 11:45am] Unmarked ICE vehicles were spotted in Santa Barbara County between 6 and 8 a.m. Tuesday, according to community alerts issued by the 805 Immigrant Coalition and 805 UndocuFund. Advocates said that Santa Barbara County was a point of target on Tuesday, with videos showing the same vehicles spotted making arrests the previous days patrolling both the Eastside and Westside neighborhoods of Santa Barbara and Carpinteria.
One video taken from a residence on Rancheria Street in Santa Barbara shows what appears to be a squad of “ERO” (ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations) agents entering private property. Another video taken in Carpinteria shows agents in unmarked vehicles breaking the window of a man's work truck near Eucalyptus Street.
[Original Story] As the federal government moves forward with the largest single investment in immigration enforcement in U.S. history — a whopping $170 billion in total, and about $30 billion specifically for U.S. Customs and Enforcement (ICE) removal operations — people on the Central Coast continue to be detained on a weekly basis.