Watch: Laura and Roy Talk ICE Provocation, Discuss Bid to Shield County, Excoriate Sheriff - Santa Barbara "a Tinderbox"
Two SB supervisors break down legislative package to protect public spaces and local elections from federal immigration agents, say Sheriff turns deaf ear to community concerns.
On Tuesday, Supervisors Laura Capps and Roy Lee won approval for a trio of measures aimed at restraining and restricting federal immigration agents who try to seize community residents on county property or try to interfere with local elections.
One day later, three masked and heavily armed ICE agents blocked the entrance to the county jail in Santa Barbara, an action viewed by community monitors on-the-scene as an F-you provocation to local government:
“At the entrance, we were met by three ICE agents standing across the doorway, equipped with bear spray, mace, and guns,” the immigration rights group SBResiste posted on Instagram.; “the agents blocked entry and threatened to assault anyone who tried to enter,.”
On Friday, Capps and Lee spoke about the incident with Newsmakers TV, in a conversation that amplified the real-life public safety concerns underlying their legislative efforts to bring a measure of containment to uncurbed ICE operations in the county.
In our interview, the two supervisors also said that neither Sheriff Bill Brown nor elections chief Joe Holland have displayed awareness, urgency or concern sufficient to address the threats posed to Santa Barbara by the Trump Administration.
“This is a very fragile time in our community. This is not just a far-off problem in Minneapolis. This is here, this is here every day - it’s a tinderbox,” Capps said.
“We live in constant fear,” Lee added. “It’s hard to comprehend for ourselves, and my kids, that because of how you look, and the color of your skin, you could be victims.”
Amid ongoing actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents assigned to the Administration’s mass deportation campaign, the legislative package from Capps and Lee represents a case study of how elected officials locally, around the state and across the nation are struggling to craft legal means of protecting community members in standing up to the cruelty, brutality and randomness of the federal government.
Check out our conversation with Laura Capps and Roy Lee via YouTube below or by clicking through this link. Our podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, or on SoundCloud here. TVSB, Channel 17, airs the show every weeknight at 5 p.m. and at 9 a.m. on weekends. KCSB, 91.9 FM, broadcasts the program at 5:30 p.m. on weekends.
Watch more:
Here is Newsmakers’s recent in-depth and detailed interview with Sheriff Bill Brown about his department’s actions, and inactions, in response to federal immigration raids.
Image: On Wednesday, three masked ICE agents blocked community monitors from entering the county jail in Santa Barbara (Edhat).