SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif.—The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors has approved a series of measures aimed at addressing concerns around immigration enforcement, including new protections tied to elections and limits on enforcement activity on county property.
In a set of votes held Tuesday in Santa Maria, the board approved all three components of a proposal introduced by Supervisors Laura Capps and Roy Lee.
“We feel great because it just passed… so we’re ecstatic,” said Supervisor Laura Capps following the votes.
One of the measures—focused on election protections—passed unanimously in a 5–0 vote. The policy is designed to safeguard voter access and encourage participation, particularly among communities that may feel vulnerable due to immigration concerns.
“I’m really looking forward to hearing from elections on what their plan is, because we’ve got to have a plan,” said Supervisor Steve Lavagnino during the discussion.
Two additional measures passed by 4–1 votes.
The first establishes so-called “ICE-free zones” on county-owned property. The goal is to ensure residents can access essential public services—such as healthcare clinics and food assistance programs—without fear of immigration enforcement activity.
“Forty percent of our county population relies on county services in one way or another, whether it's our health clinics or CalFresh,” Capps said. “They need to feel safe. They need to feel as though they can trust those services.”
The second measure uses the county’s land-use authority in an effort to block the development of future immigration detention centers in unincorporated areas.
“If we had a detention center here in Santa Barbara County, deportations would increase,” Capps said. “It would make it far easier for ICE to already do what they're doing. We've already had several hundred deportations happen right here—it’s like a hunting ground.”
Supervisor Bob Nelson cast the lone dissenting vote on both of those measures. He raised concerns about potential unintended consequences, particularly regarding public perception of law enforcement authority.
“With this, I’m concerned that this creates another layer where people in our community might believe they can tell ICE they can’t be on county property—and that the sheriff’s office isn’t going to enforce it,” Nelson said. “Does that give someone the feeling they have the right to interfere with law enforcement?”
With Tuesday’s approvals, all three policies will now move forward.
Supervisor Roy Lee also encouraged cities across the county to consider adopting similar measures.
“We drew the line, and I encourage all the cities to draw the line as well—Carpinteria, Santa Barbara, Goleta, Lompoc, Solvang, Santa Maria—a lot of cities,” Lee said.
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