Monterey County holds a large meeting to discuss immigration rights around the region
MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION-TV) -- The County of Monterey passing a resolution aimed at protecting immigrants’ rights and launching a public education campaign.
Wednesday, the Monterey County board of supervisors saying county resources won’t be used to enforce federal immigration laws, despite a warning from the incoming border Czar.
"If somebody is, you know, a good standing person in our community who's working in these industries, they're contributing to our communities, it doesn't make sense to just have them yank them up and shoot them back to their country of origin," Tina Nieto, the Sheriff of Monterey County said.
However, not everyone is in favor of the county’s stance. In Tuesday's public comment session, some expressed concerns with the policies.
"I don't think you're going to make things much better for immigrants just by declaring it a welcoming community. They're still going to be abused because unless you change and have a system where people come here legally and regulated."
Monterey County officials argue that these actions could cause fear among immigrant workers who contribute to key industries like agriculture and hospitality.
"When immigrants are victimized, they're victims of crime. if they are witnesses to crime," Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo said. "It inhibits public safety because then there are afraid to come forward, report those crimes, cooperate with law enforcement because of a fear being of a being deported."
Local law enforcement says that immigrants should feel safe reporting crimes.
"We don't even we don't enforce any federal laws," Nieto said. "We don't allow ICE into our facilities unless it's for a serious felony." Child molesters, rapist, people need to hammer down on them, and then they need to be deported, but for the nonviolent offenders, we don't get into that with our federal partners.”
Incoming border Czar Tom Homan said ICE will first target unauthorized immigrants with criminal records and the estimated 1.4 million people with pending deportation orders. He has also stressed that no one in the country illegally will be exempt from deportation.
