The Board of Supervisors of California’s Santa Barbara County recently held a public forum in which local paragons of the state’s notoriously progressive residents were able to vent their feelings on the coastal city working in any way with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deport criminal illegal aliens. Area news reports highlight just how dangerous the one-time Golden State has become.
“Public speakers during [the Oct. 18] TRUTH Act Forum urged the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors and the Sheriff’s Office to stop communicating and cooperating with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” the Santa Ynez Valley News reported.
33 Illegal Aliens Jailed Nearly 200 Times
Apparently, there hasn’t been much cooperation going on, anyway.
“Statistics from the Sheriff’s Office showed in 2020 ICE requested notification of 132 inmates’ releases but only picked up 12 of them,” the paper wrote. “In 2021, notification was requested on 39 inmates’ releases, but agents only picked up six of those.” These would be illegal aliens arrested on other criminal charges.
Regional activist and radio host Andy Caldwell summed up the insanity in an Oct. 23 op-ed in the Santa Barbara News-Press:
“[The supervisors] delved into a report indicating that three illegal aliens who have been in our county jail over 20 times each have not been deported! There were several others who had beaten their wives and children who were not deported, not to mention another who committed rape, a perv who was guilty of indecent exposure and several others with multiple convictions for driving under the influence …
“Another 33 illegal aliens who were arrested and jailed here locally nearly 200 times in the aggregate were let back onto our streets, even though they too could have been picked up by ICE, to be deported.”
Maritime Smuggling
Many Americans don’t realize that, thanks to the Pacific Ocean, a California beach community like Santa Barbara, located some 95 miles from Los Angeles, is a border town.
(Photo by Yassine Gaidi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
“Maritime smuggling events in Orange, Los Angeles, and Ventura counties increased significantly this summer, reaching record levels,” an August 2021 US Customs and Border Protection news release stated. “Just in the month of July, members of the Department of Homeland Security Regional Coordination Mechanism, in coordination with local law enforcement agencies, have responded to 12 smuggling events in the area.”
It is not difficult to find examples of the havoc entering America via the sea.
“Four Mexican nationals today were named in a federal grand jury indictment charging them with possessing and intending to distribute more than 4,700 pounds of marijuana, which they allegedly transported on a fishing boat that landed on a Santa Barbara County beach,” a June 2020 ICE release read.
Human smuggling from boats also affects the California shoreline. “Fifteen people were detained after a small boat was spotted along the Santa Barbara County coastline Monday morning, initially suspected of being involved in a human and drug smuggling operation out of Mexico,” KEYT-TV in Santa Barbara reported in September 2021. “The vessel is often called a panga boat. It had one engine.”
Panga boats are inherently dangerous craft when utilized to smuggle illegal aliens. The 2021 CBP release elaborated:
“These smuggling events often use pleasure crafts and repurposed Mexican fishing vessels known as ‘pangas,’ to smuggle migrants and narcotics into the area.
“These smuggling attempts along the coastline of Palos Verdes, Long Beach, San Pedro, Malibu, Newport Beach, and the first-ever panga landing in Santa Catalina Island, resulted in the apprehension of 90 undocumented individuals. While most were adult males of diverse nationalities, females and teenagers were also among those apprehended …
“‘Heartless and unscrupulous smugglers continue exposing undocumented individuals, men, women and children to the grave dangers associated with maritime smuggling including capsizing, hypothermia, and drowning,’ said Deputy Director, Air Operations San Diego Air and Marine Branch, Brandon Tucker.”
Self-Inflicted Police Shortage
As all this carnage heads to Santa Barbara, accompanied by the serenading voices of progressive residents, the supervisors are dealing with a second calamity fueled by misplaced emotion. The city’s police force is sorely understaffed.
The Board of Supervisors on Oct. 25 approved a plan to reduce costly overtime pay accrued by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, Valley News wrote. “The report noted the high overtime costs are due to a shortage of employees, especially sworn personnel, that requires existing employees to work excessive amounts of overtime to cover shifts and duties.”
Sheriff Bill Brown specifically cited the anti-police hysteria surrounding the George Floyd killing in May 2020 as a reason for the inability to hire enough officers. “Brown responded [to a questioner] that the Sheriff’s Department has a 10% vacancy rate among sworn staff, while three of the county’s city police agencies have vacancy rates of 20% to 25%,” the paper related. “He also said a ‘false narrative’ about brutal policing nationwide following the death of George Floyd has prevented some people from entering law enforcement, and that needs to be countered. ‘We need to fix the problem and not try to fix blame,’ Brown said.”
In the end, the leftism running wild in the largest state in the nation seems to threaten the safety of citizens in favor of those stealing into the country illegally. A scenic oceanside paradise bereft of law enforcement may soon lose its luster.
