805 UndocuFund is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting undocumented communities in the 805 area code, which covers Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties. The organization offers financial assistance to undocumented immigrants and mixed-status families, and has responded to Immigration and Customs Enforcement sightings since President Donald Trump took office in January.
805 UndocuFund has created a rapid response network to respond to I.C.E. sightings. Courtesy of 805 UndocuFund
In December 2017, the Thomas Fire and Montecito Mudslides caused thousands of Santa Barbara and Ventura County residents to lose their homes and jobs. State and federal disaster aid was inaccessible to undocumented residents — around 10% of the population of these counties at the time. 805 UndocuFund was founded in January 2018 in response, and has since raised and donated millions of dollars for undocumented victims.
Since then, the organization has continued to focus on financial support for undocumented communities, but they have also evolved to form a rapid response network that focuses on urgently informing communities of immigration enforcement actions.
According to Joseph Dobzynski, an 805 UndocuFund rapid response organizer for southern Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, the organization focuses on three pillars — rapid response, community outreach and mutual aid — to address crises faced by undocumented communities. He said this includes natural disasters and “man-made disasters like being separated by [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] or dealing with COVID infections.”
In January, the organization took over a rapid response line, which responds to reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) activity, serving as an alert service.
“Our organization has evolved to try to prevent the crisis from happening in the first place through all legal means possible,” Dobzynski said. “So mostly through our First Amendment and California state rights, we are now monitoring I.C.E. activity and reporting on that in all legal ways.”
Since Trump took office in January for his second term, I.C.E. has deported 200,000 undocumented immigrants, according to CNN’s most recent counts. At the Axios Future of Defense Summit on Oct. 22, Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said I.C.E. expects to deport over 600,000 undocumented immigrants by the end of 2025.
In response to the uptick in I.C.E raids, the Daily Nexus created an I.C.E. Sighting Tracker, which has currently tracked 27 confirmed sightings as of Nov. 4 in Goleta and Santa Barbara.
The steep spike in deportations is due to Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s unprecedented budget increases for immigration services. The bill’s budget allocated $29.9 billion toward I.C.E. enforcement, tripling its annual budget. Additionally, over the next three years, the immigration detention budget will increase by $45 billion, a 265% increase from its previous budget.
Dobzynski highlighted that previous presidential administrations, both Democratic and Republican, have directed mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, but stressed that Trump has “gone well above and beyond what any previous administration has done.”
“They have kind of shredded the Constitution when it comes to the rights that immigrants should have. They do not follow the law,” Dobzeynski said.
There have been several incidents since Trump took office of I.C.E. agents detaining United States citizens, which Dobzynski said is causing “less and less of a line between citizen and noncitizen” for I.C.E. enforcement. According to ProPublica, over 170 U.S. citizens have been detained by I.C.E. since Trump’s term began in January.
“There’s been a serious uptick in citizens being detained by I.C.E. and being put through processing to the point where they end up spending days to weeks in jail waiting to just prove that they’re a citizen all in violation of due process rights,” Dobzynski said.
805 UndocuFund volunteers often deal with I.C.E. raids that they learn about through their rapid response network.
“We show up, and if we can prevent an abduction through checking rights and making sure that everything’s being followed correctly, that’s our goal,” Dobzynski said. “If not, we’re there to document what’s happening so that we have evidence later on to show that someone was or was not — especially I.C.E. — following the rules, and if they weren’t, exactly how they were not.”
One particular event that Dobzynski responded to was the I.C.E. raid at Glass House Farms in Oxnard, which he described as the one that impacted him the most. At the raid, I.C.E. arrested 361 people, and one worker died after falling from a greenhouse roof.
“Watching the folks that didn’t get picked up by the feds, running for their lives out of the glass house, trying to get to their cars to go away,” Dobzynski said. “In that moment, I realized what it must be like … to be someone who didn’t speak the language well, didn’t really know what was going on when things happened and just being fearful about what they had to do just to survive.”
The next day, after standing in the sun for hours directing traffic as farmworkers came back for their abandoned cars, a stranger pulled their car up next to him and handed him an ice cold bottle of water and simply said, “Thank you.”
“I actually went home and cried after that because they were so grateful that there are people out there helping them against an enemy that’s so well armed and given carte blanche to do basically whatever they want with these families. And it also made me realize that we can win as long as we stick together,” Dobzynski said.
While most of the local community has been supportive of their efforts, Dobzynski said 805 UndocuFund has faced some pushback as some organizers have been harassed and counter protests have formed during their rallies.
According to Dobzynski, larger opposition has come from law enforcement who often side with I.C.E. in conflicts with the community. He said that, when 805 UndocuFund organizers follow I.C.E. vehicles, police officers will pull them over, causing the organizers to lose sight of the I.C.E. vehicle.
The organization’s second pillar, community outreach, involves connecting with immigrant communities for educational, informational and organizational purposes. According to Dobzynski, volunteers also work in advocacy in public forums, including city council and county board meetings.
805 UndocuFund’s last pillar, mutual aid, involves food, clothing and shoe drives, as well as various funds that individuals can apply for to receive financial assistance. These funds include a COVID-19 relief fund, natural disaster funds and an I.C.E. separation fund.
“Our main source of support right now directly is a $1,000 check per family that’s been affected by I.C.E. separation,” Dobzynski said. “The families call our hotline, and we verify that they have someone within the I.C.E. system that has been affected.”
The funds that 805 Undocufund distributes come from donors, which include city and county funds, community fundraisers and private donations. Dobzynski said that the best way for community members to support the organization is through donations.
“The easy way is money, but I know college students don’t generally have a lot of money to spare, especially with tuition and fees rising all the time,” Dobzynski said. “The best thing that students can do is to stay informed on what’s going on in the migrant [and] immigrant communities.”
A version of this article appeared on p. 5 of the Nov. 6 print edition of the Daily Nexus.
