Blood in the Street
By Brian Campbell
Santa Barbara: Where Criminals are VIPs and Law Enforcement is Booed
Ah, summer in Santa Barbara.
The sun’s out. Fiesta’s in full swing… kind of.
Local leaders and friendly media outlets sounded the alarm: “ICE might be out this weekend!” as if the Boogeyman himself was coming to crash the party. Suddenly, the city panicked—what if Fiesta attendance suffers? What if people… don’t show up to party?
But they needn’t have worried. ICE wasn’t the problem.
The real Boogeyman showed up anyway—just not in a badge.
Three people were stabbed on State Street. One died.
Three people were stabbed on State Street. One died.
Luis Gerado Terrazas, 29 – Arrested for attempted murder.
Juan Fernando Rios, 28 – Charged with murder, gang enhancements, personal use of a knife, committing a felony while out on bail, plus firearm charges from a separate arrest.
Sergio Rivas, 30 – Charged with murder, gang enhancements, personal use of a knife, assault with a deadly weapon, being a felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a non-serialized handgun, carrying a loaded gun in public, and possessing a loaded firearm while holding cocaine.
Huh? A non-serialized gun in a felon’s hands. So much for “universal background checks” and the fantasy that gun control laws catch criminals.
Where are the Democrats screaming about illegal firearms? Crickets.
Lovely.
How Did We Get Here?
Let’s rewind.
Remember the Glass House Farms raid? That’s the one where ICE and federal agents rescued 14 undocumented, unaccompanied minors. These were children—yes, children—illegally working on a marijuana grow farm.
That’s child endangerment under California labor law.
And that’s before we get to the convicted child predators also arrested.
The response?
DA John Savrnoch called the operation “xenophobic.” Local media ran fearmongering headlines suggesting that all Hispanic workers were arrested, despite multiple interviews with Hispanic employees who went home after the raid—not to jail, but home.
City councils and supervisors tripped over themselves to criticize federal law enforcement, while quietly ignoring the trafficked children and armed criminals on site.
They claimed ICE was targeting people based on race. But ICE was targeting child rapists, human traffickers, and repeat felons with final orders of removal.
So, let me ask: Who’s really the racist here?
Accomplices Out in the Open
Let’s take it one step further.
When a lookout warns criminals that law enforcement is coming, that lookout is guilty as an accomplice if the criminal escapes and commits further crimes. That’s Criminal Law 101.
So, when these groups posted on Instagram and social media:
805 Immigrant Coalition
805 UndocuFund
VC Defensa
Ice Out of Goleta
“ICE/Bounty Hunter Alert – Santa Barbara”
Nextdoor activists
…all warning criminals that ICE was headed to Carpinteria or Santa Barbara…
They weren’t just being “helpful.” They were potentially aiding and abetting.
If a trafficker, rapist, or violent felon escapes because of their alert—and then assaults or kills someone—they share responsibility. That’s not my opinion. That’s legal doctrine.
California Penal Code § 31:
“All persons concerned in the commission of a crime, whether they directly commit the act or aid and abet in its commission… are principals in any crime so committed.”
Political Cover for Criminals
Now let’s follow the money.
When these criminals are sheltered, offered legal defense, and stashed in “safe houses”—guess who helps fund that?
Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors
City of Santa Barbara
City of Goleta
City of Carpinteria
Your elected officials vote to funnel taxpayer funds—$150,000 here, $10,000 there—to provide legal aid to criminals instead of rescuing trafficked kids or backing law enforcement.
At the same time, they defund or undercut the Sheriff’s Department, tying the hands of those still trying to do their jobs.
Irony much?
And now… we have a murder on State Street.
Not one protest.
Not one candlelight vigil.
No city council members grandstanding at a podium.
Apparently, some lives just don’t make the cut.
The Squatters on My Street
Let me bring it home.
Just before the stabbing, I saw strange men squatting in an abandoned house on my street.
I called the police.
The men had left before they arrived … but came back later at 1:45am.
That same night:
One man dead. Three stabbed.
Luis Gerado Terrazas arrested.
My children were out at Fiesta that night.
All I could think was:
Was this preventable?
Was he one of the “protected” ones?
Did someone warn him?
Because if he was… and if that warning helped him stay here… then this blood isn’t just on his hands.
It’s on our Leaders.
Let’s Call This What It Is
When you warn criminals that ICE is coming, you’re not “defending human rights.” You’re shielding predators.
When you rebrand trafficked 14-year-olds as “undocumented workers,” you’re not being inclusive. You’re normalizing abuse.
And when you care more about hashtags than about actual human trafficking, you are not compassionate. You are complicit.
Ask Yourself:
Do you feel safe letting your kids go downtown?
Do you feel represented by officials who call child rapists “vulnerable populations” and law enforcement “terror squads”?
Do you feel proud of how Santa Barbara handled the rescue of trafficked minors and arrests of criminals?
Because I don’t.
But don’t worry—your leaders are on it.
They’ll issue another press release condemning ICE.
They’ll funnel another $150,000 to legal defense funds.
And they’ll make sure the courthouse is lit up in rainbow colors for inclusivity week.
Because here in Santa Barbara, feelings come before facts, and criminals come before kids.
Bravo.
Final Thought:
If the man who stabbed someone at Fiesta was allowed to remain here because activists, politicians, and nonprofits warned him and protected him…
Then his victim’s blood isn’t just on his hands.
It’s on yours. It’s on mine. It’s on this entire town’s conscience.
“Thanks to ICE Houston, there are 214 less pedophiles on our streets.”
— DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin
Amen to that.
Now do Santa Barbara next.
Please. Before it’s my kid.
Or yours.
Terrific, Brian. But please don't say the blood is on everyone's hands. It's not. There are a lot of people here who are doing their best - whether writing columns, such as yours here on SB Current, or writing comments, or speaking up at City and County meetings. Let's get this straight: there are bad people in Santa Barbara and the blood is on their hands. They should be taken to court for this and possibly, hopefully to jail. The rest of us fall into two groups: 1) duped and deluded followers of these corrupt, uncaring (sociopathic) officials and their propaganda media. They have blood on their hands. 2) Those of us who are having to pay more and more taxes to support our local government and have no choice in this, because if we don't pay our taxes we'll be punished much faster than any criminals. What do we have on our hands? A mess that we don't deserve.
Five stars Brian! I have no doubt the culprits on each of the City Councils/Boards have or will read your accurate piece that summarizes to a large degree the frustration of the (legal) citizenry. This forum would be excellent for each and everyone of those members to offer a reply (defense) for their malfeasance. Additionally, I wonder if there is legal exposure, via a class action lawsuit etc., to challenge these bodies for spending taxpayers dollars to aid and abet criminality...including the DA and City Attorneys? I would contribute to such as effort.