The administration cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in law enforcement grants to sanctuary cities that limited cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The Biden administration restored the grants in 2021.
Several California sheriffs were outspoken critics of the sanctuary law during Trump’s previous presidency. A group of San Joaquin Valley sheriffs traveled with Trump to the border in 2019, where they endorsed his immigration policies.
One of them, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, said he doesn’t agree with California’s sanctuary law, and said any governor who supports it should be removed from office.
But Boudreaux said he wants to distinguish between targeted enforcement of “felonious” people, which he supports, and massive immigration raids.
“Now, if they come into the area saying, ‘Hey, we’re just going to scoop up as many people as we can that are here illegally,’ we’re not going to do that, because (we) have a community to serve,” Boudreaux said. “If you can separate the difference between that, you should be able to see what I mean.”
Boudreaux pledged to keep working with federal immigration authorities within the parameters of California law.
“(If) I have a federal counterpart that comes into my county asking for assistance, I’m going to give it to them,” Boudreaux said.
Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff and one of Trump’s most outspoken allies in California, took office in 2019. Now, Bianco said he’s ready to work around state law to step up immigration enforcement.
“I will do everything in my power to make sure I keep the residents of Riverside County safe,” Bianco said to KTTV-TV in November. “If that involves working somehow around (California’s sanctuary law) with ICE so we can deport these people victimizing us and our residents, you can be 100% sure I’m going to do that.”
Immigrant advocates watching sheriffs
Eva Bitran, Immigrants’ Rights project coordinator at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said her organization would be watching for violations of the state sanctuary law, which would typically involve police calling federal immigration authorities at jails or during arrests.
That’s what happened to Daniel Valenzuela in 2019, when Corona police interrogated him about his immigration status during a traffic stop, then transferred him to U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. Valenzuela was then deported.
The ACLU sued the city of Corona, which paid Valenzuela a $35,000 settlement.
“Our expectation is that the sheriffs will follow the law,” Bitran said. “We will be watching to ensure they do so.”
In 2020, Los Angeles County banned the warrantless transfer of inmates to immigration enforcement custody. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said his department does not honor immigration detainers unless presented with a federal warrant.
Between 2018 and 2023, the last date for which data was available, there were 4,192 transfers of people from California jails to immigration authorities.
But it’s street enforcement that has people worried in both the Central Valley and downtown Oakland, where the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office is already trying to tamp down rumors of immigration raids.
“We want to assure you that this information is false,” said Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt. Roberto Morales. “This information has caused panic and anxiety in our communities.
“While we respect criminal warrants issued by a judge, Sheriff’s Office personnel do not comply with administrative immigration warrants. Importantly, we believe that local law enforcement involvement in ICE deportation operations undermines our community policing strategies and depletes local resources.”
CalMatters reporter Cayla Mihalovich contributed to this story.
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Publish date : 2025-01-21 15:40:00
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Publish date : 2025-01-22 07:14:13
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