Thread: CA-Sonoma sheriff explains illegal immigrant policy

Sonoma sheriff explains illegal immigrant policy

Sonoma County Sheriff Bill Cogbill

By MARTIN ESPINOZA



Published: Friday, March 19, 2010 at 6:45 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, March 19, 2010 at 6:45 p.m.


Sonoma County Sheriff Bill Cogbill said Friday he wants to clear the air over a key local issue expected to turn out thousands of Latino immigrants and their supporters to a march and rally in downtown Santa Rosa on Sunday.


The issue is a new system in which fingerprints taken from people booked in the county ail are sent electronically to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, databases.

Cogbill said Friday the new program is not a local policy, nor is there any official agreement between the county and ICE, an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“We didn’t have a choice in it,â€

[quote]
But immigrant rights advocates say it’s not just people with serious criminal backgrounds that will be affected. Organizers of Sunday’s march charge that local jails hold illegal immigrants who have committed minor infractions, such as traffic violations.

“They’re not just taking cars, they’re putting people in jail,â€