SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – A woman was pepper-sprayed by an ICE agent Wednesday morning at the intersection of Carpinteria Street and Salinas Street during the attempted detention of a man.
The Santa Barbara Police Department confirmed to Your News Channel Wednesday morning that the agents were Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employees and that the federal agency provided no warning to the local law enforcement agency of their intention to conduct actions in the city.
According to multiple witnesses interviewed by Your News Channel, masked federal law enforcement personnel were attempting to detain a man driving a white Toyota 4-Runner around 7:15 a.m. Wednesday.
The purpose of the detention remains unknown despite requests for more information about the incident.
A crowd of people arrived at the scene and began recording the interaction.
In the video above and other recordings and images of the scene reviewed by Your News Channel, one of the federal agents was demanding the gathering disperse before spraying one of the observers in the face with what appears to be pepper spray.
A sequence of that interaction is shown in the images below.
Federal agents then drove away from the scene as several protesters followed them before circling back to the area around 7:32 a.m. a witness shared with Your News Channel.
By the time federal agents returned to the area, officers with the Santa Barbara Police Department and emergency medical responders were on the scene.
The woman who was pepper-sprayed received medical attention from local first responders shared the Santa Barbara Police Department.
According to the Santa Barbara Police Department, officers took statements from witnesses at the scene and at least one witness shared that they filed a police report alleging ICE agents assaulted her.
No arrests were made at the scene and ICE agents left the area shortly after the arrival of local police added the Santa Barbara Police Department.
Your News Channel reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to confirm the presence of federal law enforcement personnel and asked multiple questions about the nature and purpose of Wednesday's action.
An ICE-affiliated email responded, "Please provide photos or videos of this event so we can research further. Visuals help us determine what agency might be involved" without answering any questions asked by Your News Channel nor confirming the presence of ICE agents.
Your News Channel provided cropped images depicting the insignias on the front and back of the agent who used pepper-spray at the scene without showing observers nor sharing the origin of the videos shared with the station.
The federal agency has not responded to that email.
In December, a spokesperson on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security told Your News Channel during an email exchange about detentions in the area that, "ICE is conducting routine immigration law enforcement operations across the nation on a daily basis. Due to our operational tempo and increased interest in our mission, we are not able to research every arrest."
ICE agents attempted to detain a man and pepper-sprayed an observer on Salinas Street Wednesday News Channel 3-12.
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