Roughly 300 people gathered at the Milpas Street roundabout in downtown Santa Barbara to protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and express solidarity with the undocumented community of Santa Barbara. 

Jennifer Rojas and her family printed out 600 Red Cards for the event. Shengyu Zhang / Daily Nexus

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 to crack down on illegal immigration across the country by declaring a national emergency. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) conducted 308 arrests across the country as of Jan. 29, and at least one person in Santa Barbara County (SBC) was detained. There are an estimated 44,000 undocumented immigrants in SBC, according to the Migration Policy Institute. I.C.E. agents were confirmed to be in Santa Barbara and Goleta for the first time since the beginning of the Trump administration on Jan. 26 — including sightings near Milpas Street. 

Protestors gathered at 5 p.m., carrying Mexican and other Latin American flags, such as the Guatemalan flag. What started with roughly 15 people expanded to nearly 300 by 7 p.m. The protest was organized by Santa Barbara local Jennifer Rojas and her two siblings in three days. Her family printed out 600 Red Cards created by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center to help individuals recall their rights during I.C.E. encounters, as well as information on judicial and administrative court orders. 

“With all these mass deportations going on, I felt like we needed to spread the word, and we needed to unite as one to help educate our community and everybody who needs the help right now, and everybody who feels fear when walking out their doors every morning,” Rojas said. 

Information on the protest was spread mostly through Instagram story reposts and a Reddit thread. 

“I didn’t expect it to blow up as much as it did because my following on Instagram is not a lot, but apparently it did, and I’m very happy that it did,” Rojas said. 

Attendees held signs reading, “Don’t bite the hands that feed you,” “Immigrants make America great,” “Keep families together” and “Don’t let the orange man get you down.” Protestors chanted “Fuck Donald Trump,” along with “Si se puede,” meaning “Yes we can” in Spanish.

Attendees held signs, carrying Mexican and other Latin American flags. Shengyu Zhang / Daily Nexus

Many attendees interviewed by the Nexus were directly affected by Trump’s immigration executive orders. 

Second-year Santa Barbara City College student Christy Guerrero Jimenez attended the protest to advocate for her beliefs amidst the new administration, citing censorship as an issue regarding the spread of misinformation. She said a lot of people close to her could be targeted by I.C.E.

“They’re just fearing again, the sense of fear that’s going around. Like, a lot of people are just not going to work. They can’t go to school, go out and go about their day-to-day lives. And I mean, I’m in a position where I’m able to go out and be visible and advocate for those who can’t,” Guerrero Jimenez said.

Erica, a UCSB alum, said she attended the protest because a client was afraid to show up to appointments at her workplace in fear of encountering I.C.E. agents.

“I just received a call from work today about a parent who hadn’t been bringing one of our clients to their appointments, and it was because she was scared of being out in the neighborhood,” she said. “My biggest hope is the immigrant community can see [that] the community supports them most of all.” 

Attendees also gave out information sheets from local social services organization La Casa de la Raza regarding a Grassroots Allies Coordination Workshop for the following day to organize ways that allies can aid the undocumented community. 

The organization is currently organizing vigils, county-wide policies and a “New Age Underground Railroad” to help undocumented community members and allies coordinate donations, provide shelter and find individuals who have been detained or have gone missing.  

A Santa Barbara resident, who wished to remain anonymous, emphasized the historical and cultural significance of the Latine community in Santa Barbara, especially considering the city’s Spanish heritage, with 36.8% of its population being Hispanic or Latine, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. They’re hoping for “systematic change” and to protect the community.

“This affects our community’s own mental health. You can see that there’s a large separation among our own community members that are suffering with anxiety. They’re suffering with depression, they are suffering with trauma,” they said. “It’s important that we begin to take care of our community’s mental health. Without our mental health, we are not a strong community. It’s important that we remain connected so that we activate our maximum potential as a community.”

They also spoke on how the city of Santa Barbara can do more to help the local immigrant community, including enforcing laws that can enact systematic change and protect the mental health of all community members, “not just the ones that have money to live here in Santa Barbara.”

Santa Barbara City Administrator Kelly McAdoo said in a recent statement that under California’s SB 54, “local law enforcement agencies are prohibited from participating in immigration enforcement except in limited specific circumstances.”

“We’re not here to separate communities. We’re here to unite communities. And it’s unity that creates strength. In Spanish, we say, ‘la unión hace la fuerza,’ ‘unity creates strength,’ and that’s what we’re here to represent a strong community, a loving community,” an attendee who wished to remain anonymous said.

A version of this article appeared on p.1 of the Feb. 6, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.

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Michelle Cisneros
Michelle Cisneros (she/her) is the Community Outreach News Editor for the 2024-25 school year. Previously, Cisneros was the Assistant News Editor for the 2023-24 school year. She can be reached at michellecisneros@dailynexus.com or news@dailynexus.com.