ICE swarmed Central Coast neighborhoods after Christmas. Here’s when and where
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents reportedly swarmed the Central Coast over the weekend, with a local advocacy group saying agents plucked people from their neighborhoods, workplaces and shopping centers without warning.
Immigration agents took at least 92 people into custody from Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, according to data collected by 805 UndocuFund, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting undocumented immigrants and their families. The elevated ICE activity appeared to continue later into the week as well.
“This one is a direct attack on our communities,” 805 UndocuFund communications and media organizer Claudia Gonzalez said, noting that ICE picked most people up in areas where immigrants live and work.
805 UndocuFund collected this data from rapid responders who witness the arrests and community members who call and report the arrests of their friends and family members, she said. The group then checks the numbers to ensure there aren’t duplicates of the same incident in the dataset.
On Saturday, ICE agents took 34 people into custody from Santa Maria and two people into custody from San Luis Obispo, according to the data provided to The Tribune.
Then, on Sunday, ICE took 13 people from Lompoc, two people from Santa Barbara and eight people from Santa Maria — including four people who were working at a gas station, according to the data.
On Monday, ICE agents took 24 people from Santa Maria, five people from San Luis Obispo, one person from Nipomo and three people from Paso Robles, according to the data.
Since President Donald Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20, Gonzalez said ICE agents have taken at least 94 community members into custody from San Luis Obispo County and 537 community members from Santa Barbara County — with a large number of those incidents happening during the past few days, Gonzalez said.
805 UndocuFund community organizer Cesar Vasquez said he’s never seen ICE take so many people during a two-day period.
“It’s been hell,” he said.
ICE did not respond to The Tribune’s request for comment about the apparent uptick in Central Coast activity as of Tuesday.
Elevated ICE activity continues into week
On Monday, 805 UndocuFund rapid responders were running around Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties monitoring ICE agents and offering help to families who had been separated, Vasquez said.
In addition to Santa Maria ICE agents, agents from Camarillo and Los Angeles appeared to join the swarm, too — which Vasquez hasn’t seen before, he said.
805 UndocuFund identifies ICE agents based on their vehicles and license plates.
The activity began early in Santa Maria on Monday, with ICE picking up a man on the way to his car at 4 a.m. on Bunny Avenue, Vasquez said. Then, at 4:45 a.m., ICE detained a man and a woman when he stopped on Bunny Avenue to drive her to work, he said.
At 5:24 a.m., ICE took a man from the parking lot of his apartment building on Western Avenue.
Then, ICE detained a man on Morrison Avenue as he dropped his children off with a babysitter at 5:26 a.m., Vasquez said.
ICE continued to circle the area, taking people into custody on Alvin and Bunny avenues and other nearby streets.
The agents then descended on San Luis Obispo County, taking a father from outside his apartment on Bullock Lane and Orcutt Road, Vasquez said. Then, 30 minutes later, ICE agents picked up two men from the same area, and another man on the way to his car 20 minutes after that, he said.
At 11:13 a.m., ICE agents took a man into custody from the lobby of the San Luis Obispo County Jail when he was released. The Tribune was at the scene at the time he was detained.
The agents immediately placed him in handcuffs and escorted him to a vehicle in the parking lot. ICE agents did not appear to present a warrant to the man, and the agents refused to answer questions on the scene.
Meanwhile, in Paso Robles, ICE took a man at 11:43 a.m. while he was getting groceries, Vasquez said. Agents continued to pick up other people in Santa Maria and across San Luis Obispo County on Monday afternoon, he said.
Tuesday morning was a similar story — with ICE agents driving around Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties to pick people up off the street, Vasquez and Gonzalez both told The Tribune.
The elevated activity has had a large impact on community members through the holiday weekend and into this week.
People avoided leaving their homes, even to go to work, to the doctor or to take their children to school, Gonzalez said.
“They’re definitely scared,” she said. “Even documented community members are scared to go outside, because what we’ve seen is obvious racial profiling. They’re hitting Santa Maria, and this is where our working community lives.”
These deportations have also impacted children from mixed-status families.
“When a family is separated, sometimes they lose their main breadwinner,” Gonzalez said. “Children are left without parents.”
Gonzalez said people can call 805 UndocuFund at 805-870-8855 if they see ICE or if they need assistance because a friend or family member was taken. People can donate to 805 UndocuFund’s mutual aid fund for impacted families at www.pledge.to/mutual-aid-fund.
This story was originally published December 31, 2025 at 11:24 AM.
