Four masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stood outside the Santa Barbara County Northern Branch Jail on April 1, waiting to detain an inmate being released.
Cesar Vasquez and several other legal observers for 805 UndocuFund were standing close by, documenting the federal agents as they walked to their unmarked vehicles with an inmate, now in ICE’s custody. The mother of the inmate was there to witness it all, and Vasquez stayed back to share the immigrant advocacy group’s resources.
Vasquez, 18, has spoken with many other families impacted by federal immigration enforcement in Santa Maria and throughout the Central Coast. He said it never gets easier, nor does he want it to.
“The second it gets easier is the second I’m disconnected from the community work, from the support, from my passion,” said Vasquez, a rapid response coordinator for 805 UndocuFund. “It’s just the pain that I have to learn to live through.”
Since January 2025, federal immigration enforcement has taken 466 individuals into custody in Santa Maria, according to 805 UndocuFund data, making it the most impacted city across San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties as of April 1. For Vasquez, serving his community through his activism against ICE means everything. But it also comes with challenges.
At the No Kings Day protest on March 28, someone in a hoodie approached Vasquez before he spoke at the event. Vasquez said the unidentified person told him, “this might be your last speech,” and walked away.
Vasquez has also received threats through direct messages online after being featured in The Guardian, a British news organization.
The rapid response coordinator said he considers himself a revolutionary through his work with 805 UndocuFund. While he said other revolutionaries in the past have wanted to “die for the revolution,” Vasquez wants to live for it.
“If something were to happen to me, you know, legally or physically, at least I’d go out knowing that I’m out here for the community,” Vasquez said.
‘Every single street in Santa Maria now carries a trauma’
A little over 30 miles south of San Luis Obispo lies the city of Santa Maria, home to Vasquez and where the rapid response coordinator patrols for ICE activity before the crack of dawn.
He keeps a list of ICE vehicle descriptions and license plates to look out for in the area and maintains constant communication with other volunteers doing the same work at the same time across the three counties of the Central Coast.
But each ride through the streets of his hometown now brings tainted memories for Vasquez.
“The neighborhoods I drive through are no longer neighborhoods I grew up in, or walked to go to the grocery store,” Vasquez said. “They’re neighborhoods where someone has been taken.” Many of the homes Vasquez drives by are homes where he has either given financial relief to families, or informed them of an ICE arrest.
“Every single street in Santa Maria now carries a trauma,” Vasquez said.
He starts his drive around the city during the early mornings of the day when others in the community are heading to work in the fields. Vasquez said his parents began working in the fields when they were teenagers, and almost everyone he has met in Santa Maria has an association with farm working.
According to Vasquez, much of the ICE activity in the early, dark mornings occurred during the “four-day raids,” his phrase for when federal agents raided cities across the Central Coast and took 34 people into custody in a single day after Christmas in Santa Maria last year, The Tribune previously reported.
Vasquez said he grew up as an anxious child. He would worry about things like his family’s car flipping over on road trips, or drowning during a flash flood warning. Now, he said this anxiety has helped him navigate his life as an activist, moving through stressful situations and being accustomed to them.
The rapid response coordinator would also help fill out government forms for his mother who could not read, write or speak English. He said he would not have imagined himself providing similar financial support to families in his community affected by ICE, but the signs were there.
Vasquez began advocating for causes like gun violence, education reform and field worker pay when he was 12 years old. As a child to undocumented parents, however, organizing for immigration reform has always felt personal.
Student groups have formed relationships with 805 UndocuFund
At Cal Poly, some student organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine have collaborated with 805 UndocuFund for events and fundraising.
Co-president of Students for Justice in Palestine Iyad Jamaly said he believes Cal Poly students are disconnected from ICE activity in the Central Coast. He said 805 UndocuFund, however, has brought more awareness and education on the effects of immigration enforcement on these communities.
The club has hosted Vasquez at their meetings and events, and the group has helped 805 UndocuFund to book spaces on campus to host rapid response trainings, said Co-President of Students for Justice in Palestine Cobalt Strahle.
Jamaly said he found Vasquez to be a brave and courageous person when hearing him speak about his story and work.
At age 17, Vasquez was committed to attending San Diego State University. After conversations with multiple people over the phone, he decided to defer his acceptance to the university and continue his activism in Santa Maria after graduating high school.
Now, Vasquez said he oversees a rapid response network of around 900 volunteers for 805 UndocuFund. He said he works for the community, letting them decide his fate.
“To be a leader, you need to be a follower of the people that you’re supposed to lead,” Vasquez said. “My future is decided upon by the people.”
Editor’s note: Cobalt Strahle is a member of Mustang Media Group but had no affiliation with the production of this story. Mustang News blurred the face of the detained individual due to safety and privacy concerns.
This story originally appeared in the April printed edition of Mustang News. Check out more stories from the issue here.
