ICE Agents Spotted Outside Santa Barbara County Jail Wednesday

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Your News Channel was able to confirm that agents wearing ICE insignias were outside of the Santa Barbara County Jail for a still-unconfirmed reason Wednesday.

After receiving multiple calls about the presence of federal immigration personnel outside of the Santa Barbara County Jail just before noon Wednesday, Your News Channel responded to the scene and confirmed that multiple agents using unmarked vehicles appeared to be staging in the area.

Your News Channel reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for more information and its response will be added to this article when it is received.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office shared their office does not confirm the presence of federal law enforcement personnel and directed Your News Channel to the federal agency.

Local immigrant rights groups confirmed their volunteers were also at the scene observing the federal agents.

Federal immigration actions have been conducted multiple times outside of the Santa Barbara County Jail in the past.

In March of this year, a 25-year-old Carpinteria man was cited for trespassing after jumping a fence back into the jail's property in order to avoid pursuing federal agents after his release from Sheriff's custody earlier the same day.

The next month, federal agents were captured blocking access to the same detention facilities inmate reception area before taking at least one still-unidentified person into custody.

After being informed that blocking public access to the reception area was an unlawful act by employees of the local Sheriff's Office, agents left the scene.

Despite being contacted by Your News Channel about both incidents, the federal agency has not responded.

The day before that April interaction outside of the Santa Barbara County Jail inmate reception area, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors during a special hearing, passed a multi-section measure changing how the County works with federal immigration agents.

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles confirmed earlier this month that the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office has assisted in transferring inmates at county jails into federal custody as part of Operation Guardian Angel.