Christmas Parade Canceled in California Coastal Town over Fears ICE Will Show Up

Claiming Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) might play the role of Scrooge, organizers have canceled an annual Christmas parade held in Santa Barbara, California’s largely Hispanic east side.

The Milpas Street Holiday Parade, a decades-long tradition the coastal city’s east end, was scheduled for December 13. But now organizers claim that potential immigration raids could ruin the event and worry parade goers will be targets whether they are illegal or not.

“Although ICE raids may no longer dominate daily headlines, the threat to our Latino families documented or undocumented remains very real,” Santa Barbara Eastside Society, which organizes the parade, said in a statement to news outlets.“The presence of immigration enforcement in our region, the fear it generates, and the uncertainty families continue to face are real, immediate, and deeply felt.”

There has been no statement from the Department of Homeland Security that indicates it plans to target the Santa Barbara event.

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The cancellation is the second large scale public event organizers have suspended this year while blaming ICE and the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal aliens with criminal records.

The Dia de los Muertos Parade, a cultural event that draws some 10,000 people downtown in early November was also canceled.

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