Monterey County Sheriff’s Office working with ICE
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office is working on a plan to deal with dangerous criminals here illegally. It started just over two months ago, sparked by the death of a Bay Area woman, allegedly killed at the hands of an undocumented immigrant with a violent past.
“After the San Francisco shooting,” said Monterey County Sheriff Steve Bernal, “what you started seeing is just about every sheriff in California was trying to get an ICE agent in their jail so people like that don’t get released into society.”
It’s happened in Fresno, LA, Ventura and Alameda Counties, now in Monterey County. An ICE agent, working out of the jail, identified high priority criminals through fingerprints, taken when inmates get to jail.
In Monterey County, 85 inmates have been detained by ICE so far. 27 of them are considered Priority 1, deemed a threat to national security, border security or public safety. The rest are Priority 2, those convicted of three separate misdemeanors or a serious misdemeanor like domestic violence, weapons, drugs or DUI.
“Although we’re working very closely with ICE,” Sheriff Bernal explains, “we’re not targeting people just because of their immigration status. We’re going after criminals.”
He says there have even been instances of dangerous undocumented immigrants re-offending here in Monterey County. One case in particular involved a convicted child molester.
But Assembly Member Luis Alejo feels the policy is too strict for some inmates.
“Some of these lower level offenses,” Assembly Member Alejo explains, “the immigration consequences, the deportation, the separation from their families, is even harsher than the criminal consequences.”
He hopes to find a compromise. Sheriff Bernal says he’s open to changing the program.
“So far, I haven’t seen a perfect system,” Sheriff Bernal said. “So we’re going to sit down and listen to the concerns and we’ll address those concerns. If there are flaws in our system, we’ll fix them.”
He’s met with immigration advocates to explain the program and hopes to meet with local Hispanic business owners face to face to let them know the Sheriff’s Office is here to work with them.
It’s important to note, Sheriff Bernal did this on his own. The Monterey County Board of Supervisors says it wasn’t told about it ahead of time. The board doesn’t have any legal or operational authority of him, but he did meet with supervisors on Tuesday morning to make his case.
