An Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility which could move to Santa Maria wouldn’t change the operations it already performs at its Lompoc location, according to ICE officials.
The Enforcement and Removal Operations office primarily seeks out undocumented immigrants who are at the end of prison or jail sentences, interviews them and sends them to Los Angeles to face a deportation trial, officials said Friday.
Operations may sometimes include targeting people who have been served deportation orders and then escaped, during which they could also target undocumented residents at the address in question if they fit the bureau’s priorities, the officials said.
Virginia Kice, a public affairs officer with ICE, said in a press release that the organization prioritizes the removal of those “who present the greatest risk to our communities.” She said the bureau doesn’t conduct mass roundups or street sweeps of undocumented immigrants.
“That is absolutely false,” ICE Public Affairs Officer Lori Haley said. “That is not something that we do, and it doesn't happen, and the community needs to understand this.”
The 12 employees who would work in the Santa Maria office if the move happens, currently operate out of trailers at the Lompoc Federal Correctional Complex, where the office has existed since 1996.
The proposed move drew thousands of protesters to a City Council meeting on Jan. 21 and a Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday. The council rezoned the land so that the type of building necessary to house the ICE facility could be built there, while the commission approved the planned development permit to build the structure.
Community members and public officials argued against the project based on concerns ranging from a lack of community trust to including barbed wire on part of the property without notifying homeowner’s associations in the area. Santa Maria-Bonita School Board member Will Smith, speaking as a private citizen at the Planning Commission meeting, said he would be concerned about bringing convicted criminals to an area close to three schools.
ICE officials said that some escapes have happened in the past, but they were from long-term detention centers and not necessarily from enforcement and removal facilities. The office would have capacity to hold a maximum of 13 detainees for up to 12 hours each, according to the ICE press release. It takes about two hours on average to process a detainee, and the Lompoc office works with about 100 per month.
Community members have said they plan to appeal the Planning Commission’s decision to the City Council.