Dozens of people gathered outside the Santa Barbara County Administration Building in Santa Maria on Tuesday before filling the board chambers for the Sheriff's Office's annual Truth Act forum.
The Truth Act requires counties to hold a public forum each year if local law enforcement has shared release information with ICE or turned someone over to federal immigration officers. Sheriff's officials also explained Senate Bill 54, which generally limits when local law enforcement can cooperate with federal immigration authorities while allowing certain exceptions under state law.
Chief Custody Deputy Ryan Sullivan outlined the department's stated policies on immigration enforcement.
"The Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office does not enforce immigration law, does not check immigration status on anyone we arrest or book into custody at the jails, does not hold anyone beyond the release date in the absence of a warrant signed by a judge, and does not share information with ICE unless the requirements outlined in the Truth Trust and Values Acts are met," Sullivan said.
The Sheriff's Office says ICE made 221 requests for information or access to people housed in the county jails last year. Officials said only 28 of those requests met the criteria under Senate Bill 54, meaning the vast majority did not.
According to the sheriff's data, 12 people were ultimately transferred to ICE after their release from custody. An additional 33 transfers were carried out under federal judicial warrants.
During the meeting, Supervisor Laura Capps questioned the sheriff about a UC Berkeley study using federal data, which reported 99 ICE arrests on or around Santa Barbara County Jail property in 2025, a higher total than several other California counties. She asked why those arrests are not tracked by the Sheriff's Office.
"Santa Clara is a big county, we have three... Kern, big county... Fresno 16... Imperial 133... Ventura 49... SLO 55 ... why 99? And yet, we don't track... We don't seem to have a sense of, this is a situation we need to get a handle of, right?" Capps said.
Sheriff Bill Brown responded that the 99 arrests were not Sheriff's Office data. He said the figure likely included the 12 people transferred under SB 54 and the 33 people taken into custody on federal judicial warrants. Brown said other arrests made near the jail may also account for the higher number.
"They're the most well-funded law enforcement agency in America, and so they will be carrying out their mission one way or another, and frankly, I would much rather they arrest people in jail if we can legally provide them access to them through SB 54, which is state law," Sheriff Brown said.
Supervisors also asked why no ICE representatives attended the forum. Brown said he had extended an invitation.
"I passed that invitation on to our local acting ICE field operations director last month. I had not spoke with him since then but I did receive a text message from him yesterday that said they regretfully would not be here because in order to do so, the required clearance had not come through for that," Brown said.
Community members who attended the forum said they want to see more transparency surrounding local cooperation with ICE and continued conversation about how immigration enforcement affects the county.
Fernando Martinez of the Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project encouraged residents to stay engaged.
"Many folks think that they can't do anything about it but the reality is that we can use our voice and our opinions to really hold our sheriff's office accountable for the things that are happening within our community," Martinez said.
