ICE officers pushed and pepper-sprayed multiple Santa Barbara residents during a reported immigration enforcement operation in the Eastside neighborhood of Santa Barbara on Wednesday morning. The man was able to escape arrest, but the ICE officers remained in the area. “The Santa Barbara Police Department had no prior knowledge that the ICE agents would be at that location or anywhere in the City of Santa Barbara today,” the statement read. A masked ICE officer on Salinas Street in Santa Barbara on January 28, 2026. She said the violence and Minnesota and the recent actions in Santa Barbara have made her more passionate about protecting her neighbors from immigration enforcement.