Santa Barbara County is putting more than $200,000 toward mental health services for immigrants as federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers ramp up deportations in the Central Coast.
The Immigrant Legal Defense Center in Santa Barbara is currently offering help to over 500 people, many impacted by ICE arrests. However, its mental health team has just one therapist to help affected family members — and a waiting list of 65 people who need those services.
Last Tuesday, County Supervisors voted unanimously to use cannabis tax revenue to help the Center hire two more therapists.
Second District Board Chair Laura Capps said at the meeting that the Center’s mix of legal and mental health services will help families move forward.
“That trust has already been established because the person who is detained or deported is being represented by this organization, and so they're already enmeshed in the family structure,” Capps said. “So, to then add the counselor has been a brilliant decision by this organization to do these two things hand in glove.”
Capps said the goal of expanding mental health services is to keep those affected, especially children, from falling through the cracks or ending up in the criminal justice system.
Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann also voiced support for the move.
“I think it's only a finger in the dike, but it's something we can do, and I worry that we're going to have a deluge of much more of this,” Hartmann said. “I don't know what we're going to do then, but at least we make a step forward.”
The board will reassess the program’s impact in six months.
