Grant Phillips | Ojai Valley News
Rep. Julia Brownley (D-CA-26) joined more than 30 community leaders on Jan. 30 in front of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office in Camarillo to discuss “the lawless and dangerous conduct of federal immigration enforcement agencies under the leadership of U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem,” according to a release from Brownley.
“What we are witnessing in this country, and communities from Minneapolis to right here at home, is heartbreaking,” Brownley told the crowd of several dozen during the press conference. “We are united by a shared belief that every life has worth, and that we cannot stand by quietly or passively while brutality goes unchallenged.”
Brownley shared that she is the co-author of a bill, introduced on Jan. 14, to impeach Noem for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
The bill alleges that Noem “willfully violated Public Law No. 118-47 which states no funds appropriated to Department of Homeland Security ‘may be used to prevent’ ‘a Member of Congress’ ‘from entering, for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens.’”
The full text of the bill is available at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-resolution/996/text
Brownley said that she was denied entry into the Camarillo Field Office, but plans to return after giving advanced notice.
She also addressed the ongoing protests occurring throughout the county, and the nation.
“Your presence reflects the strength of this community and our shared commitment to stand with one another in a moment of deep pain and moral urgency,” Brownley said. “The observers, protestors, and the people of conscience who are showing up and speaking out, you are so necessary, you are essential, you are answering a moral call with courage.”
Brownley said she had a “list of demands” from the federal government regarding ICE activity, which includes: reigning in the power of the Department of Homeland Security; restoring federal accountability, Noem be impeached; ending “warrantless arrests;” stopping raids from taking place in churches and schools; the unmasking of federal agents; humane conditions in detention centers; and that “those responsible for violence and wrongdoing are held fully accountable, including at the highest levels of leadership.”
County Supervisor Vianey Lopez, who represents District 5, emphasized the role of community leaders in keeping residents safe.
“I ask that leaders in this county recognize the climate we are in, and the role that everyone can play in supporting our communities,” Lopez said. “Our community in Ventura County deserves to be safe from the violent actions of ICE agents, to be safe from the authoritarian agenda of the Trump administration, to be safe in schools, in their places of work, in the streets, but especially in their homes.”
Ventura County Office of Education Superintendent César Morales shared additional concerns he has for Ventura County students.
“Public education works best when we have a federal interest, a state function, and a local responsibility, and we are reminded daily that the federal government in this president’s administration is tearing us down,” Morales said. “Students deserve to be in classrooms, they don’t deserve to be in detention centers.”
Assemblymember Steve Bennett shared his concerns regarding the number of ICE officers present in Minneapolis, where Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti were both fatally shot by ICE agents in January.
“There are 3,000 ICE agents in Minneapolis, that’s three times the number of the police department in Minneapolis,” Bennett said. “There are approximately 100,000 undocumented people in all of Minnesota, there are 2 million undocumented people in Texas, 1.2 million undocumented people in Florida, but you don’t have ICE raids in Texas and in Florida.”
Bennett also advocated for nonviolent resistance from protestors.
“This is a political battle, this is not a physical battle,” he told the crowd. “This is a battle for the political opinion of Americans, and the important thing is that we don’t overplay our hand, we let them overplay their hand.”
Genevieve Flores-Haro, the associate director of the Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project, or MICOP, described Ventura County as having been a “litmus test” for what has been unfolding around the country ever since the Glass House Farms immigration operation that took place in July 2025.
“MICOP stands with the over 1,400 central coast residents that have been taken over the last year, many of whom are indigenous migrants,” Flores-Haro said. “The 32 deaths in ICE detention are not numbers, they are farmworkers, they are mothers, they are brothers, they are sisters … We will not stop until every life is protected.”
Other community leaders in attendance included:
- Rev. Betty Stapleford, Co-Chair of CLUE VC (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice Ventura County)
- Martita Martinez-Bravo, Vice Mayor of the City of Camarillo and Executive Director of Friends of Fieldworkers
- Pastor Erik Halseth, Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura
- Rabbi Lisa Hochberg-Miller, Temple Beth Torah, Ventura
- Father Tom Elewaut, Mission Basilica San Buenaventura
- Dr. Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios, Mayor, City of Ventura
- Luis McArthur, Mayor, City of Oxnard
- Gabe Teran, Mayor Pro Tem, City of Oxnard
- Michaela Perez, Councilmember, City of Oxnard
- Gabriela Basua, Councilmember, City of Oxnard
- Martha McQueen-Legohn, Mayor, City of Port Hueneme
- Laura Hernandez, Mayor Pro Tem, City of Port Hueneme
- Carlos Juarez, Mayor, City of Santa Paula
- Pedro Chavez, Councilmember, City of Santa Paula
- Gabby Ornelas, Councilmember, City of Santa Paula
- Albert Mendez, Mayor, City of Fillmore
- Christina Villasenor, Councilmember, City of Fillmore
- Tie Gutierrez, Councilmember, City of Thousand Oaks
- Deborah Klein-Lopez, Mayor Pro Tem, City of Agoura Hills
- Karen Sher, President, Oxnard Union High School District
- Cynthia Salas, Trustee, Oxnard School District
- Bev Dransfeldt, Chair, Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District
- Ashley Orozco, Director, Conejo Recreation and Park District
- Hannah Lee, Representative for Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin
- Lupe Lopez Garcia, Representative for Senate President Pro Tempore Monique Limón
- Willie Lubka, Buen Vecino
- Denae Lassan, 805 Immigrant Coalition
- Joseph Dobzynski, 805 Immigrant Coalition
This story was originally published by Ojai Valley News on February 2, 2026.
Issues: 119th Congress, Immigration