CA. Sheriff to make new ICE cooperation program in jail permanent
Sheriff to make new ICE cooperation program in jail permanent
By Jim Johnson, Monterey Herald
POSTED: 10/19/15, 8:46 PM PDT | UPDATED: 43 SECS AGO
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Salinas >> After what was a two-month test period, Monterey County Sheriff Steve Bernal said Monday he will implement a program allowing federal immigration and customs enforcement agents to work out of the County Jail in an effort to nab inmates in the country illegally and considered a threat to public safety because of their criminal background before they can be released.
Bernal said the local program operating under the federal Priority Enforcement Program and targeting only inmates with “significant criminal convictions” appears to be working and will be put in place permanently.
“My No. 1 priority is public safety for the citizens of Monterey County and I’m going to do what I can not to release criminals back into the society in Monterey County,” he said. “A lot of criminal immigrants are slipping through the cracks and being released because we just can’t violate their Fourth Amendment rights. I will continue to work with the community. It’s not my interest to see good, honest people deported for minor infractions.”
The Sheriff’s announcement came a day before he was slated to make a closed session presentation to the Board of Supervisors on the program, apparently under the heading “threat to public services or facilities.”
State and local officials, including supervisors, expressed surprise and concern when the Sheriff acknowledged in a Monterey County Weekly story that he had quietly implemented the program on a pilot basis in August.
Bernal said the program was implemented in response to concerns about violent and repeat offenders in the country illegally being released in the wake of last summer’s shooting death in San Francisco of Kathryn Steinle, allegedly by an immigrant in the country illegally with felony convictions who had been repeatedly deported but was released by law enforcement officials despite an ICE detainer request.
He noted sheriffs around the state are implementing similar programs, including Fresno, Alameda, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, as well as across the nation.
Bernal said he was providing the supervisors with an overview of the program only as a courtesy, and said it was “my job” as an elected official to determine jail policy.
Supervisor Simon Salinas said Bernal probably could have avoided the “confusion and lack of information” and allayed concerns from the community by reporting on the program to the supervisors, but acknowledged the board has limited authority over the sheriff. Salinas said he supports the program concept as long as it concentrates solely on the most serious offenders, including misdemeanors such as DUI, and doesn’t risk efforts to develop the relationship between law enforcement and the immigrant community.
“I don’t know how much direct authority we have but we do represent the communities that are being affected, and we ought to have more open communication,” he said. “If he can explain how the policy is being implemented and complements our work in the community then maybe it meets (our goals).”
According to an Oct. 14 letter from Bernal to the supervisors, the local program implemented as a pilot on Aug. 14 simply allows ICE agents to have a desk at the jail from which to work and access to all information the Sheriff’s Office would typically share with other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. ICE agents are clearly identified, according to the letter, and are not allowed unescorted access throughout the jail.
ICE agents’ presence at the jail, Bernal said, is important because his policy remains not to honor ICE detainer requests for inmates nor will the jail hold them past their release date, so ICE must be at the jail to take custody whenever they’re released or risk losing them.
Since the program took effect, Bernal reported that 85 inmates had been released to ICE through Oct. 8 under the program. Of those, 27 were considered Priority 1 removals, defined as threats to national security, border security, or public safety, and including those involved with criminal street gangs or with felony convictions. An additional 58 inmates were released to ICE as Priority 2 removals, including those with “significant” misdemeanor convictions such as domestic violence, weapons, sexual abuse, and DUI.
In his letter to the supervisors, Bernal stressed that he is not enforcing immigration law nor collaborating with ICE “out in the community” and his deputies would not detain or arrest anyone based on their immigration status.
Bernal also wrote that County Counsel attorneys had advised the program was in compliance with the state’s Trust Act, which prohibits local law enforcement officials from holding all but the most serious and violent offenders for ICE, and County Counsel Charles McKee explained that the sheriff is complying with the act by declining all ICE detainer requests and releasing all inmates when they are eligible for release.
http://www.montereyherald.com/govern...jail-permanent
