On Friday, Jan. 30, hundreds of Santa Barbara residents gathered at various places around the city to participate in the national shutdown to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The protest is only one of many that show Santa Barbara’s growing discontent with ICE’s presence in America and within the community.
The national shutdown, which was started by students at the University of Minnesota, followed the fatal shooting by ICE officers of U.S. citizen Alex Pretti on Jan. 24 in Minnesota. The shutdown spread nationwide, provoking millions of Americans to skip work, school, and any shopping to attend protests and marches throughout their cities.
Minnesota has been facing an increased ICE presence in its cities, primarily Minneapolis. In early January, ICE fatally shot U.S. citizen and mother Renee Nicole Good, sparking national outrage and anger towards ICE officers’ increasingly violent presence in Minneapolis… A few weeks later, at a protest, ICE officers were seen kicking and beating ICU nurse Alex Pretti, and soon after, multiple shots were fired, killing him on the scene.
Alongside Good and Pretti, six people have died in ICE detention centers as of Feb. 11. These include 42-year-old Luis Gustavo Núñez Caceres, 68-year-old Luis Beltran Yanez Cruz, 46-year-old Parady La, 34-year-old Heber Sánchez Domínguez, and 36-year-old Victor Manuel Díaz. These deaths have all occurred in the year 2026; over 30 others tragically died last year as well, according to the American Immigration Council.
Many Santa Barbara High School (SBHS) students attended the Jan. 30 protest, alongside Santa Barbara Junior High, La Colina, San Marcos, and Dos Pueblos students. Hundreds of students and Santa Barbara residents gathered in front of the Santa Barbara Courthouse downtown, at Ledbetter Beach, on Upper State Street, in front of San Marcos High School, and in front of La Colina Junior High. People gathered along the sides of roads holding signs expressing statements such as “ICE Out of 805,” “Families Belong Together,” and many more.
Many Santa Barbara citizens could be seen driving up and down Cabrillo Boulevard, honking and waving at the protesters in solidarity with the cause, further expressing the city’s opposition to ICE.
Sophomore Quetzal Hernandez, who attended the Jan. 30 protest, said, “I feel like no matter the size of the city, there will be a strong impact.” Many SBHS students are adversely affected by ICE, and many students are using their voices to speak up against it.
On Feb. 10, a student-led walkout took place, organized by SBHS’s MEChA club. This walkout brought hundreds of students to the front of Santa Barbara’s city hall to protest ICE. Numerous students stood up and spoke into a megaphone, describing their own experiences with ICE and how they and their families are being affected. Along with students, Santa Barbara city council members Wendy Santamaria and Kristen Sneddon also addressed the crowd.
The Santa Barbara ICE scene has escalated recently as well. On the Eastside, a woman was pepper-sprayed in the face by a federal agent in the midst of an immigration enforcement operation on Jan. 28, as reported by the Santa Barbara Independent and Noozhawk. As of early January, nearly 150 people in Santa Barbara County alone have been detained by ICE, and over 700,000 people have been detained nationally as of Jan. 25, according to tracreports.org.
Sophomore Stella Malina, who attended the Jan. 30 protest at Ledbetter Beach, said, “I think it means truly that we all have each other’s backs and we are a very tight-knit community, and the positive turnout and amount of people driving by…shows how much we have each other’s backs.”
As Santa Barbara continues to show their support for immigrant rights, more and more protests and walkouts are taking place. SBHS students are speaking up and using their voices to showcase how they feel and how important stopping ICE is to them. “Our community really relies on immigrants,” Malina says, “we need them.”
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