SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Federal law enforcement agents have been confirmed to have been active in Santa Barbara on the afternoon of Thursday, Dec. 11.

According to Santa Barbara City College, eight to nine vehicles with federal agents parked on the 3rd floor of the West Campus Parking lot around 5:45 p.m. Thursday before leaving the vehicles and later returning just after 7 p.m.

At the time, the West Campus Safety Kiosk was not open and campus security received no warning that law enforcement personnel from any jurisdiction would be staging on the community college's campus added Santa Barbara City College.

An alert was issued to students, staff, and members of the public regarding the operation, but it is not currently believed that any federal enforcement operations were conducted on campus noted Santa Barbara City College.

Agents confirmed to staff who responded to the scene that they were federal law enforcement agents and they were leaving the school shared Santa Barbara City College.

Later the same day, 805 Rapid Response posted on social media that federal agents were spotted on Arrellaga Street and multiple people may have been taken into custody from westside homes.

Over the past few days, immigrant rights organization, 805 UndocuFund, has documented multiple potential federal law enforcement actions within the city limits of Santa Barbara.

Your News Channel has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security multiple times to verify the sightings, gather additional information about the actions, and confirm the total number of people taken.

Its response will be added to this article when it is received.

This was also not the first time that federal law enforcement agents affiliated with the Department of Homeland Security used the local community college.

On Nov. 23, agents parked in Lot 1B in front of the Administration Building early in the morning and later left the campus after being asked to leave by security confirmed Santa Barbara City College.

The post Federal agents staged vehicles at Santa Barbara City College Thursday afternoon appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

CENTRAL COAST, Calif. (KEYT) – In its Year in Help report, GoFundMe gave the Central Coast – and its generosity – a special shoutout.

The organization, GoFundMe, released its annual Year in Help report, wrapping up the year 2025 in global donations, support, and generosity.

The United States was ranked #2 amongst the most generous countries, right behind the country of Ireland. California came out on top as the most generous state in the U.S., and five California cities made the top 10 most generous places in the U.S.:

Santa Barbara, Calif. was ranked #10 on the list, following the city of Ventura, Calif. coming in at #9.

According to the report, over 79 million donations were made in 2025, with one coming in every 2.5 seconds.

January 10th was the most generous day recorded. Following multiple wildfires breaking out in Los Angeles County at the beginning of the year, donors from across all 50 states and over 160 countries made donations on GoFundMe towards rebuilding efforts and aid.

About one million donors raised $265 million dollars, over 7,500 grants were delivered to serve those impacted by the fires, along with over 170 organizations.

A statement by GoFundMe reads:

"This year, our community showed that kindness knows no borders. From town to town and across oceans, people came together to give and get help, creating a global network of support. This is the story of how generosity traveled across the world in 2025, connecting us all."

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VENTURA, Calif.—International Bird Rescue CEO JD Bergeron says after working closely with the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network, they have successfully released 24 of the roughly 130 western grebes that were brought into their San Pedro facility.
 
There are still more birds being rehabilitated right now.
 
“Essentially every day we are seeing birds that are ready to go. So there's one ready to go. Today, we're expecting a handful of them again tomorrow. So these birds are really moving along. We want them fat. No, No exterior wounds and no infections. That's the key thing that we're looking at,” said Bergeron.
 
Unfortunately, nearly a third of the grebes brought in to the rescue died upon arrival or within the first few days because of the critical condition they were in.
 
Bergeron says western grebes are among the most challenging water birds to rehabilitate.
 
“They’re very delicate. Things can go wrong with their their intestines, with their digestion, with their feet,” said Bergeron.
 
But he’s proud of how much his team has done.
 
“We're dealing with a big crisis and yet we do love working with the species. They make crazy noises. They're so goofy looking and also just amazing creatures,” said Bergeron.
  
Most of the western grebes were brought in from Ventura, but were released in LA.
 
 

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