Orange County residents are about to get their annual peek at who the sheriff’s department turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week after a year with repeated protests around ICE’s deportation sweeps in Southern California.
While the sheriff’s department is barred from transferring prisoners directly to immigration authorities, sheriffs can notify them when prisoners with immigration holds who’ve been convicted of a serious felony are released so that federal officers can pick them up outside the jail.
That happened 323 times last year according to the new report from the sheriffs, with immigration agents ultimately opting to pick up 271 prisoners right outside the county jails.
Only around one in three prisoners that the sheriff’s department reviewed for a possible transfer to ICE were picked up, with just over 500 prisoners’ convictions not meeting the state’s criteria to notify ICE of their release.
Of the 553 people who were not transferred to ICE’s custody, 71 were rearrested at least once that same year for other alleged crimes including assault with a deadly weapon, grand theft, DUI or domestic violence.
Sheriffs also noted that of the 271 prisoners that were taken into ICE’s custody, 14 of them were released back into Orange County and were arrested again.
It comes after a string of protests against President Donald Trump’s policies regarding the widespread deportation sweeps that ramped up across Orange County, which saw the National Guard get deployed to Downtown Santa Ana last June, shortly after the ICE raids began.
Read: Orange County Grapples With Federal Occupation
The annual disclosure is usually opposed by local activist groups calling for the sheriff’s department to end all cooperation with immigration officials, citing concerns that residents might not trust the county’s largest police department if they work with the federal government.
The Harbor Institute for Immigrant and Economic Justice has already issued a report highlighting the sheriff’s work with immigration, and called for all activity to cease.
“More than ever, continuing to hand people over to ICE poses a grave threat to public health, trust in government, and, of course, community members’ very lives,” wrote Mai Nguyen Do, Research & Policy Manager for the Harbor Institute, in a news release.
“Sheriff Barnes should listen to what residents, community organizations, and researchers have long been saying for years: save public resources and stop voluntarily transferring people to ICE custody.”
Barnes disputed that in a Friday statement, pointing to people his office arrested who later re-offended as a sign they should work more closely with federal law enforcement.
“Notifying federal authorities of the pending release of a dangerous offender and transferring that person to their custody is not the enforcement of immigration law. These offenders pose a significant risk to our communities and removing them is consistent with the department’s mission to enhance public safety for all Orange County residents,” Barnes wrote.
Barnes also claimed that the state’s current restrictions encourage more federal immigration enforcement throughout the county if they aren’t able to pick people up from the jails.
“I warned that restricting coordination in our jails could result in increased federal immigration enforcement in the community,” Barnes wrote. That is exactly what occurred in Southern California last summer. We should be prioritizing safe, controlled transfers within the jail setting.”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.
