Immigration and Customs Enforcement

A candlelight vigil in San Luis Obispo brought together local nurses, lawmakers and community members on Saturday to remember Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse from Minneapolis who was fatally shot by federal immigration agents last month.

Federal immigration agents pepper-sprayed a woman in Santa Barbara's Eastside Wednesday morning, while in the process of detaining a woman near Carpinteria and Salinas Streets.

Across the Central Coast, people took to the streets and held vigils last weekend in reaction to the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on January 7.

According to the press release, the proposed ordinance would “bar federal immigration agents from entering non-public areas of SLO County property without a judicial warrant..."

A vigil was held in San Luis Obispo Thursday night to honor Renee Good who was shot and killed Wednesday by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis. Dozens gathered downtown to mourn her death and to voice fear and anger over immigration enforcement nationwide.

California’s new laws requiring immigration officers to show identification and limit the use of masks are meant to increase transparency during the enforcement process. But questions remain about how those laws will be enforced.

Central Coast leaders and immigration advocates gathered outside the Santa Maria ICE facility Friday calling attention to what they describe as a sharp surge in immigration enforcement during the holiday week.

Colectivo Mariposa 805 is a community-led organization giving mutual aid to families affected by immigration enforcement activity. The group is based in Santa Maria and serves over 70 families in the cities of Santa Maria and Guadalupe, and the unincorporated community of Nipomo.

On California’s Central Coast, Congressman Salud Carbajal is raising new concerns about local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. Carbajal recently toured the ICE processing facility in Santa Maria.

SLO County Supervisors has accepted a more than $300,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security. The funding drew public opposition over the department’s immigration enforcement policies.