Democrat-run media’s pattern of one-sided reporting that shields lawbreakers and demonizes federal agents doing their jobs is just another election cycle evolution meant to get out the vote for the Democrat Party, whose solution for everything just happens to be communism… oh, and demonizing, defunding, and disarming, law enforcement. They will sacrifice the safety of their own communities to retain power and grow dependency.
In the recent (February 20) ICE arrest on Carrillo Street, the full eight-minute video shows a man approach the unmarked Dodge Charger, crouch down, and clearly interact with the rear right tire. Moments later, the tire goes flat. Santa Barbara police confirmed that the tire had been slashed, which is a federal crime involving destruction of government property. Yet the left-wing press described the act as a man simply “appearing to briefly touch the tire” and called the event a “violent ICE arrest.”
The story focuses almost entirely on the 80-year-old attorney who yelled insults, tried to grab a backpack during the arrest, and got pepper-sprayed. It barely mentions the crowd that surrounded the two agents for eight minutes, screaming, honking, whistling, and interfering, as the officers tried to secure their suspect and damaged vehicle.
This is propaganda that flips aggressors into victims and federal officers into villains.
The same pattern appeared during the July 2025 raids at Glass House Farms in Carpinteria and Camarillo. Federal agents arrested 361 illegal workers and rescued at least 14 migrant children from potential forced labor, exploitation, and human trafficking, at the cannabis operation.
Protesters mobbed agents as they left, throwing rocks that shattered vehicle windows and windshields. Video shows one raid supporter getting sucker-punched from behind, then swarmed and taken down by the crowd with no arrests for the assault. Local leftist media stayed quiet on the child labor discoveries and vehicle attacks. Other outlets highlighted smoke bombs used by agents, minor protester injuries, and complaints from politicians denied entry.
Serious crimes against workers and federal property vanished from the coverage.
Local activist groups function like a less organized version of Antifa, using similar tactics to obstruct immigration enforcement under the banner of “community defense.” Antifa in Portland mastered black-bloc anonymity, umbrella squads to block cameras, assaults on citizen journalists, and nightly riots that created no-go zones.
Local Santa Barbara and Ventura County activist crowds form fast through alert networks and hotlines. The results are similar: surround agents, damage federal vehicles, assault bystanders, then rely on friendly press to spotlight law enforcement force while downplaying or ignoring mob violence.
Nonprofits Fund Not-So-Peaceful Protests with Taxpayer Money
This “film the police, ignore the antagonists” approach keeps the myth alive that these groups are peaceful. Federal agents face constant risks enforcing laws local politicians ignore. Real victims like trafficked children at Glass House and ordinary citizens and curious journalists assaulted by mobs are erased. Local law enforcement – controlled by the same radical officials – is sidelined by policies that limit response and recording.
Taxpayer dollars fund groups that organize against federal enforcement. 805 UndocuFund runs an emergency fund for undocumented families hit by ICE, operates a hotline for sightings, and coordinates the 805 Immigrant Rapid Response Network.
In October 2025, the Santa Barbara City Council awarded UndocuFund $100,000 from the City’s Immigrant Relief Fund for financial aid amid rising enforcement. Earlier in August 2025, the council approved a $500,000 package for immigrant support services, much of it going to similar nonprofits.
These are local taxpayer funds used to counter lawful federal operations.
VC Defensa serves as the Ventura County counterpart, running a hotline (805-296-1119) to report ICE activity, dispatching volunteers to document encounters, and building defense strategies. The group benefits from collaboration with funded entities like 805 UndocuFund, joint networks, and broader city-county immigrant relief funding that supports staff hiring, training, and sustained operations.
Unlike Portland Antifa, which relied on crowdfunding and private donors to avoid scrutiny tied to its anarchist image, local groups present themselves as legitimate nonprofits offering “humanitarian” aid. This makes them acceptable for city councils to fund with public money under labels like “community relief.” Yet the outcomes align with Antifa: disrupt federal operations, form crowds via hotlines, damage vehicles, assault bystanders, then use sympathetic media to frame law enforcement response as excessive.
Taxpayer subsidies provide payroll, hotlines, and rapid mobilization.
This creates a perverse incentive. Local politicians subsidize resistance to federal law, shielding illegal activity like harboring undocumented workers at raided sites with child labor issues, while escalating tensions leading up to the next election. It erodes the rule of law when cities pay groups whose main function is to obstruct federal agents enforcing immigration statutes.
“News” outlets rarely mention these funding ties, preferring to depict protesters as spontaneous defenders rather than partially taxpayer-supported operatives.
This selective silence fuels narratives that downplay mob violence and amplify claims against authorities, backed by local government checks and it all goes back to them getting out the vote for the next election. They need the youth to be mobilized and they need their base to be active. They must distract from their poor governance and growth of the administrative state.
The more dependents they can create the safer Democrat politicians become.
Local news outlets bear real responsibility for this chaos. By consistently minimizing vandalism, assaults, and human trafficking while amplifying every claim of “excessive” force, they tear apart community trust and invite more anarchy.
Antifa Context:
1. Portland Antifa telling compliant press not to film during riot activities (Nov 2020):
A protester directly says, “If you want to be a journalist, don’t film the protestors,” while others engage in public criminal acts. This clip highlights demands to avoid recording identifiable actions.
Video:
2. Antifa encampment confrontation – demanding stop filming because “some people don’t have their masks on yet” (June 2025): Militants emerge to confront a journalist filming near an ICE-related encampment, insisting recording stop due to unmasked individuals (common privacy/anonymity concern in these groups). The filmer declines and captures the exchange.
Video:
3. Protester yelling at filmer to stop during activity they don’t want recorded (Jan 2026):
Someone is heard yelling “back the f*** up” and asking to stop filming amid actions they prefer hidden.
Video:
4. Additional context from Portland/Charlottesville-era reports (2018–2020):
Multiple accounts captured Antifa-linked protesters swatting cameras, covering lenses, or shouting “stop filming” at journalists. Similar in Portland where activists demanded no recording of “direct actions.”
Report:
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