Ventura County Board of Supervisors urged to fund immigrant legal aid after recent ICE raids in Camarillo
Mina Wahab
VENTURA, Calif. — Local activists and community members packed the Ventura County Board of Supervisors meeting, voicing strong support for immigrant rights in the wake of the July 10 ICE raids at Glass House Farms in Camarillo and Carpinteria, where more than 300 people were reportedly arrested.
“We call them undocumented, but they are deeply embedded,” one speaker told the board. “They are part of the labor force. They’re part of our entrepreneurship. They’re part of our economy.”
The community is seeking a $2 million investment: $1.3 million for Ventura County residents facing deportation and $700,000 for eligible immigrant families seeking to adjust their status. Supporters also called for the creation of a Ventura County Immigration Legal Defense Fund, expansion of the Public Defender’s Office with a seven-person immigrant defense unit, and the development of countywide protocols for responding to federal immigration enforcement actions
“They didn’t just shatter our community’s sense of safety,” said Primitiva Hernandez, Executive Director of 805 Undocufund. “Since that day, we’ve seen children afraid to go to school, workers terrified to leave their homes, and a tired neighborhood living in a constant state of anxiety.”
Hernandez said the community has stepped up to fill urgent needs. Since the raids, 805 Undocufund’s emergency assistance fund has distributed over $200,000 to 200 families. Other organizations, including VC Defensa and Friends of Fieldworkers, have organized food distributions and other mutual aid events. But, she noted, most families still lack access to legal representation.
“People should have the right to due process, and they should have the chance to fight their case,” said Nidia Bello, a policy advocate with CAUSE. The American Civil Liberties Union reports detained immigrants with legal counsel are ten times more likely to win their cases than those without representation — yet more than 70% of those in immigration court this year have faced proceedings without a lawyer. In Ventura County, 805 Undocufund says some families have been charged thousands of dollars by predatory attorneys exploiting their desperation.
“We have a justice system that is so heavily based on whether you have money or not,” said CAUSE Co-Executive Director Lucas Zucker. “If you’re a farmworker making $25,000 a year and living here in Ventura County, you absolutely cannot come up with thousands of dollars overnight if your family’s detained by ICE.” Zucker added, “This is not a super blue or red community here in Ventura County. This is very purple. It’s a local community largely unified in understanding that immigrants are a vital part of it. For our county to be able to direct some resources to at least making sure all of our residents have due process — that’s the least we can do.”
While the majority of attendees voiced support, a handful held signs praising the raids and pointing to the arrests of individuals with criminal records.
The Board did not take a vote on the proposals. Instead, the discussion was continued to August 26 at 9 a.m. to allow for more public testimony and debate.