San Diego County has voted to further block county cooperation with federal immigration authorities ahead of an expected deportation push by the incoming Trump administration next year – a move quickly slammed by a top local Republican.
The resolution goes further than California’s existing ‘sanctuary’ law, which generally limits law enforcement’s cooperation with ICE. The vote was approved in a 3-1 vote by San Diego County’s board of supervisors.
The resolution says that the county will not provide assistance or cooperation to ICE “including by giving ICE agents access to individuals or allowing them to use County facilities for investigative interviews or other purposes, expending County time or resources responding to ICE inquiries or communicating with ICE regarding individuals’ incarceration status or release dates, or otherwise participating in any civil immigration enforcement activities.”
ICE agents make arrests on September 25, 2019, in Revere, Massachusetts. ( Photo by Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)
When ICE is aware of a suspected illegal immigrant in local or state custody, it will lodge a detainer with law enforcement, typically requesting that the agency is notified ahead of their release and in some cases held until ICE can take custody of them.
ICE says this helps detain illegal immigrants without having to go into communities and gets illegal immigrant offenders off the streets. Sanctuary proponents say that such policies chill cooperation between law enforcement and otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants.
“When federal immigration authorities, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and U.S. Border Patrol, coerce local law enforcement to carry out deportations, family members are separated and community trust in law enforcement and local government is destroyed,” an overview of the resolution claims. “Witnesses and victims who are undocumented or who have loved ones who are undocumented are afraid to come to the County for help, which includes calling local law enforcement. This puts the public safety of all San Diegans at risk.”
ANOTHER MAJOR BLUE CITY DOUBLES DOWN ON VOW TO OBSTRUCT TRUMP’S MASS DEPORTATION PLAN
Former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Thomas Homan speaks during the third day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 17, 2024. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
The vote comes just over a month before President-elect Trump will be sworn into office. He has pledged to launch a “historic” mass deportation operation once in office to remove millions of illegal immigrants from the country.
San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas said that California’s current sanctuary laws restricting ICE deportations don’t go far enough.
“While the California Values Act significantly expanded protection from deportation to California residents, it fell short of protecting all residents, because it allowed agencies to still notify ICE of release dates and transfers individuals to ICE without a warrant in some circumstances,” she said.
The resolution echoes a similar policy enacted in 2019 by Santa Clara County.
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Supervisor Jim Desmond, a Republican who provided the sole nay vote on the resolution, slammed the passage of the law. He previously told Fox News Digital that the move was part of an effort by some Democrats to “Trump-proof” the state.
On Tuesday he said the vote is a “direct betrayal of the people we are sworn to protect.”
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“This reckless measure not only goes far beyond California’s already extreme Sanctuary State laws but actively endangers our communities by shielding illegal immigrant criminals from deportation. Consider this: under this policy, law enforcement is prohibited from notifying ICE about individuals, in custody, who have committed violent and heinous crimes, including: Rape and stalking, Assault and battery, Burglary, Child abuse and more,” he said.
He said he has already been in touch with members of the incoming Trump administration and “will fight relentlessly to undo this disastrous policy and ensure that illegal immigrant criminals are removed from our neighborhoods.”
