SAN DIEGO (AP) — The nation's fifth most populous county decided Tuesday to limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities beyond what California law dictates, allying itself with jurisdictions around the country that are raising new obstacles to President-elect Donald Trump's plans for mass deportations.
San Diego County will prohibit its sheriff's department from working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the federal agency's enforcement of civil immigration laws, including those that allow for deportations. California law generally prohibits cooperation but makes exceptions for those convicted of certain violent crimes.
“We will not allow our local resources to be used for actions that separate families, harm community trust, or divert critical local resources away from addressing our most pressing challenges,” said Nora Vargas, who joined two other Democrats on the board of supervisors to approve the policy.
Jim Desmond, the lone dissenter, said the policy protects people convicted of violent crimes, recounting the shooting death of 32-year-old Kate Steinle in San Francisco in 2015 and other high-profile attacks committed by people in the country illegally.
"These tragedies are preventable but sanctuary laws allow them to happen by allowing illegal criminals back into our communities instead of into the hands of ICE, said Desmond, a Republican.
San Diego County, with 3.3 million residents and its location on the U.S. border with Mexico, is one of the more prominent local governments to ramp up protections for people in the country illegally. At the same time, some states and counties are gearing up to support Trump’s deportation efforts.
ICE has limited resources to carry out the mass deportations that Trump wants. Thus, it will rely heavily on sheriffs to notify it of people in their custody and hold them temporarily, if asked, to allow federal officials time to arrest them on immigration charges.
Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, has singled out San Diego as a place where the incoming administration's plans are complicated by “sanctuary” laws, a loose term for state and local governments that restrict cooperation with federal immigration authorities. He said Sunday on Fox News Channel that that laws denying ICE access to county jails “put the community at risk.” In contrast to San Diego, Homan plans to meet with New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who has expressed interest in collaborating.
The policy brings San Diego in line with seven other counties in California, including Los Angeles, the nation's largest, which recently adopted a policy that goes beyond state law, Vargas said.
Vargas said “a loophole” in state law that allows sheriffs to work with ICE under limited circumstances for people convicted of violent crimes had resulted in the county transferring 100 to 200 people a year to immigration authorities. ICE will now need a judge’s order to get help from the county.
San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez took issue with Vargas' use of “loophole” to describe state law. While she didn't take a position on the new county policy, she noted that California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, has blocked efforts to further restrict cooperation with ICE.
"While protecting the rights of undocumented immigrants is crucial, it is equally important to ensure that victims of crimes are not overlooked or neglected in the process," Martinez said.
