Pushing back: California leaders address comments made by ICE

UPDATE 10/9/2017 5:30 p.m.:

Local, county and state leaders are pushing back on comments made by the head of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement after Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 54 into law.

SB54 made California a so-called Sanctuary State, expanding protections to all undocumented immigrants in the state. It includes prohibiting local law enforcement from asking the legal status of people, and limits collaboration between law enforcement and federal immigration officers. Part of the collaboration is notifying ICE of release dates of undocumented inmates.

Tom Homan, the acting director of ICE reacted last week, releasing the statement:

“Governor Jerry Brown’s decision to sign SB54 and make California a sanctuary state for illegal aliens – including those who have committed crimes – will undermine public safety and hinder ICE from performing its federally mandated mission. The governor is simply wrong when he claims otherwise.

SB54 will negatively impact ICE operations in California by nearly eliminating all cooperation and communication with our law enforcement partners in the state, voiding the delegated authority that the Orange County Sheriff’s Office has under the 287g program, and prohibiting local law enforcement from contracting with the federal government to house detainees.

ICE will have no choice but to conduct at-large arrests in local neighborhoods and at work sites, which will inevitably result in additional collateral arrests, instead of focusing on arrests at jails and prisons where transfers are safer for ICE officers and the community. ICE will also likely have to detain individuals arrested in California in detention facilities outside of the state, far from any family they may have in California.

Ultimately, SB54 helps shield removable aliens from immigration enforcement and creates another magnet for more illegal immigration, all at the expense of the safety and security of the very people it purports to protect.

Despite the severe challenges that this law creates for ICE, we remain committed to our public safety mission and we will continue to do our sworn duty to seek out dangerous criminal aliens and other immigration violators. ICE seeks straightforward cooperation with all sheriffs and local elected officials. This misguided legislation will severely undermine those efforts.”

On Monday, local leaders from Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties addressed those comments, saying they would not back down and would stand behind the state’s 2.5 million undocumented residents.

“We know that we’re the state with the largest number of undocumented immigrants,” Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo said. “But we also recognize in California, through our policies that immigrants are taxpayers. They are the backbone of our economy, especially in agriculture, hospitality and construction, and this could have a big impact on our state. So we’re trying to give a big message back to our immigrant community that we are here to stand up against ICE and these threatened raids in the state of California.”

State Senator Bill Monning said ICE’s threats of at-large arrests in neighborhoods are “fear-mongering.”

“The threat made by ICE, they are carrying through on that threat,” Monning said. “They were doing it before SB54 passed, they’ll continue to do it. We need a change in Washington. We need to rebuild this country holding hands, not building walls.”

Monning went on to discuss Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart, with trying to protect the people he is sworn to protect, including undocumented immigrants. He was the only sheriff on the Central Coast who supported SB54.

“He believes it will instill and restore confidence in local law enforcement,” Monning said. “In other words, we want someone who has been a witness to crime, somebody who has been a victim of crime, not to fear reporting it. Not to fear going to the courthouse to be a witness because they fear possible deportation. This strengths the fabric of local law enforcement.”

ORIGINAL POST:

Local, county and state leaders gathered in Salinas and addressed comments made by the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The acting director of ICE reacted last week to the state bill that made California a so-called Sanctuary State. The federal immigration agency released a statement that said it will undermine public safety, something local leaders disagree with.

“I think this is the first press conference in the state of california pushing back on the threats made by the director of immigration,” said Monterey County Board of Supervisor, Luis Alejo.

Senate Bill 54, which Governor Jerry Brown signed into law last Thursday, expands protections to all undocumented immigrants in the state, including prohibiting local authorities asking the legal status of people and limiting collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration officers.

Part of the collaboration between ICE and local law enforcement agencies was releasing dates of undocumented inmates.

ICE has fought back saying:

‘ICE will have no choice but to conduct at-large arrests in local neighborhoods and at worksites, which will inevitably result in additional collateral arrests, instead of focusing on arrests at jails and prisons where transfers are safer for ICE officers and the community.’

Lawmakers said they were not backing down and will stand behind California’s 2.5 million undocumented residents.

KION’s Mariana Hicks has the full story at 6 p.m.