“It made me really sad,” Brisa, an 11th grader and daughter of immigrant farmworkers, said. “I had a feeling they weren’t going to vote for this because they are privileged, but I had a little bit of hope because I wanted them to help with this situation”. Brisa, like many youth in Santa Maria, has watched her community become a target. She has attended Santa Maria City Council meetings alongside her peers to advocate for protections for their immigrant friends and families. Back in October, councilmembers agonized over forming an immigration ad hoc committee after the item was postponed in September because the council was unprepared to discuss it. Brisa’s disappointment was unmistakable. “This is a big issue for me, I have seen how brown people are being targeted.”
As we enter February, ICE activity has surged across the nation with tactics more aggressive than ever, yet our Santa Maria City Council continues to stall. On February 3rd, youth and activists once again urged councilmembers to take basic action by establishing an immigration ad hoc committee to focus on support the city can provide. Public comment overflowed with testimonies on the local impacts. In one comment, a student mentioned how a peer took on a second job to help support their family after her father was kidnapped by ICE. In response, Mayor Patino said, “Those ICE officers go to work everyday and they deserve to come home at night to their loved ones,” disregarding the hundreds of people kidnapped by ICE in Santa Maria. “I do not want Santa Maria as a sanctuary city,” she continued.
Meanwhile, Santa Maria has been continuously hit with aggressive ICE kidnappings since the crackdown on immigration, with hundreds of kidnappings in 2025. Santa Maria is home to one of the region’s largest Latinx immigrant communities, many of whom are farmworkers at particular risk. Federal agents are showing up to our community in tactical gear and military vehicles, pointing firearms to unarmed community members who are lawfully observing their actions. In November 2025, ICE caused a car collision, leaving a person injured, bystanders shaken and our entire community looking to our elected officials for their leadership.
As uncertainty grows, youth like Brisa and other students have remained strong, refusing to be defeated by adults who lack the empathy to take action. Students have joined forces with immigrant rights activists and community-based organizations to urge their councilmembers to take bolder measures, rather than hiding behind “government limitations” as they’ve done for years to justify their longstanding silence. Despite the statistics and increased urgency from their residents, Santa Maria councilmembers, with the exception of Gloria Soto, have been adamant that this issue does not fall under their jurisdiction and have yet to take meaningful action.
“Just because it doesn’t impact you doesn’t mean it’s not an issue,” said Brisa, “People should be showing up to city council meetings or calling their councilmembers and urge them to take action. We need to speak out about what’s going on.”
—Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE)
