San Diego County will soon vote on a resolution to block all county cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including letting them know about the release of criminal illegal immigrants — coming just weeks before the Trump administration is expected to launch a historic deportation campaign.
The resolution would go further than the state’s sanctuary law, which generally limits law enforcement’s cooperation with ICE, and represents a hardline stance against all cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
The new resolution, which will see a vote on December 10 as part of the county’s “commitment to social justice and inclusion,” will say 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.”
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In this undated photo, ICE agents arrest an illegal immigrant. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE))
“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.”
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.
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)
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She argues that the “loophole” has resulted in some illegal immigrants being transferred to ICE custody or ICE being notified of their release. The resolution is similar to a 2019 policy adopted in Santa Clara County.
“By avoiding active cooperation with ICE, including through specific notification to ICE of the release dates of immigrants, the County avoids treating a group of individuals differently solely on the basis of their immigration status,” she says.
Republican San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, who opposes the resolution, says he believes the resolution will pass, given the Democratic makeup of the board of supervisors. He said he believed the move was in line with a broader effort by the state to “Trump-proof” the state, and called it a “knee-jerk” reaction.
“This is going to really impede different agencies and working together to make sure that everyone’s safe, even the immigrants that are here now that have come across the border. This is going to hurt their communities even worse,” he told Fox News Digital in an interview.
“I think this is going to allow more criminals who are here illegally to stay in San Diego County, and to get away with these kinds of crimes to where law enforcement can’t work with immigration or with ICE on a much broader group of crimes. So, it’s going to allow more rampant crime here and make our cities and our communities less safe.”
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Rodney Scott, former chief of the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector, stands for a portrait near the border wall in San Diego, California. ( Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images))
Multiple officials at state and local level across the U.S. have said they will not cooperate with the upcoming deportation campaign by the new Trump administration. In Boston this week, the city council unanimously voted for a resolution to protect illegal immigrants from “unjust enforcement actions” and restricting Boston police from cooperating with ICE.
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However, some Republican states have said they will help the administration in its plans, with Texas going a step further and offering land on which to stage the deportation operation.
