The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday on a package of policies related to immigration enforcement and elections.
The proposal, introduced by Supervisors Laura Capps and Roy Lee, has three distinct parts.
The first section updates already existing county policy to clarify that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can't use public property to stage enforcement operations.
Capps acknowledged that she wasn’t sure the policy could be effectively enforced.
“ We have seen that ICE has trampled through all of the laws and trampled the Constitution,” Capps said, “At least in this situation, there would be a sign that said that it's not allowed.”
“It may be largely symbolic,” Supervisor Joan Hartmann concurred. “But symbols are important.”
Another portion of the proposal will direct the Planning and Development Department to research whether zoning and permitting tools could be used to stop ICE from opening more offices and detention centers in unincorporated areas within Santa Barbara County.
Supervisor Bob Nelson criticized those two policies, saying they could encourage the public to target ICE agents.
“We have people slashing law enforcement's tires,” Nelson said. “ And it's because they think that they have some vigilante obligation to enforce law that's not being enforced somewhere else.”
“ We don't condone violence, but certainly the majority of the violence has been directed from ICE,” Capp responded. “ I don't think this will add fuel to the fire, I think the fire is already there.”
However, Nelson did say he supported a third part of the proposal that involved elections.
The policy would request that the Elections Division educate voters on how the county will protect their ballots and make it clear that armed federal agents aren’t allowed in polling locations.
“I think the more information, the better,” Nelson said. “Let's get clarity there.”
The two policies opposed by Nelson were broken into their own motion, which passed 4-1. The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted to approve the elections policy unanimously.
