ACLU criticizes ICE partnership with Mo. Co. Sheriff’s Office

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office has come under fire from the American Civil Liberties Union.

Earlier this month, Sheriff Steve Bernal announced a partnership with the Monterey County Jail and U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) as a way to keep undocumented inmates convicted of serious crimes off the streets. But the ACLU says the new program violates those inmates’ civil liberties.

Teaming up with ICE is something that’s happened in a number of Sheriff’s offices across California.

“Community trust is key and when the local law enforcement becomes involved in enforcing immigration laws, the community becomes suspicious and fearful and afraid of law enforcement and that is not effective community policing,” said Michelle Welsh, the board of directors of ACLU’s Monterey County chapter.

Welsh, along with a number of other organizations sent a letter to Bernal and the board of supervisors telling them to get rid of this program.

“One study found that 45 percent of the non-citizen callers expressed fear of calling and/or seeking help from the police or courts. This new sheriff policy only exacerbates this fear,” part of the letter read.

CLICK HERE to read the whole letter.

What sparked this new ICE federal Priority Enforcement Program was the fear of another Kate Steinle situation. She was the 32-year-old allegedly shot and killed by an undocumented criminal released from jail in San Francisco.

“Although we’re working very closely with ICE, we’re not targeting people just because of their immigration status. We’re going after criminals,” Bernal said when he announced the partnership on Oct. 20.

Even though ICE only handles those with a criminal history, or those who’ve committed a serious crime, ACLU says those inmates aren’t even given an attorney before ICE takes control.

“As far as on the immigration front we’ve not been provided any information to give to them to contact an attorney,” said Commander John Thornburg, with the sheriff’s office.

The ACLU added this program could lead to overcrowding in the jails.

“If the sheriff informs them that if they post bail they’re going to be picked up and deported immediately by ICE agents, they’ll simply stay in jail and not post bail and that effectively denies them bail,” Welsh said.

Already this year, 85 people have been deported as a result of the partnership with ICE and the sheriff’s office.

News Channel 5 reached out to supervisors and they’ve received the letter but haven’t commented yet
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Bernal said he plans to meet with the groups listed in the letter in November to see how they can improve the program.