Immigration advocates are calling on the Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors to join an ACLU lawsuit that aims to stop the Department of Homeland Security from targeting people because of their race and the language they speak.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of immigration advocates in the Central Valley earlier this month.
And last week, Los Angeles County, city and seven other municipalities joined that suit.
Those lawsuits were successful. U.S. District judges for the Central and Eastern Districts of California issued injunctions, prohibiting the federal agency from stopping individuals without reasonable suspicion.
After Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids on the Central Coast, immigration advocates want Santa Barbara County to join the lawsuit.
“Today there's a massive community mobilization at the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors to take action locally,” said Lucas Zucker, the co-executive director of Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, or CAUSE.
In a statement sent to KCBX, Supervisor Laura Capps said the board supports “upholding constitutional rights by preventing unlawful immigration enforcement practices and racial profiling” but hasn’t discussed joining the lawsuit yet.
