Community hearing today regarding state ICE law

Members of the Yuba County Sheriff’s Office will go before county supervisors today to give a presentation on how the department is in compliance with state law regarding interactions between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its detainees.

Starting earlier this year, cities and counties have been required by law to hold community forums if a local law enforcement agency has provided ICE access to a detained individual – under the Transparent Review of Unjust Transfers and Holds (TRUTH) Act. The Yuba County Sheriff’s Office had one such case within the last year, which is why a community forum is planned for this afternoon.

“(Today’s forum) has nothing to do with our ICE contract. It has to do with a state mandate that all counties have to do. We will be giving the board a presentation about how we are in compliance with that act,” said Yuba County Sheriff Wendell Anderson.

The TRUTH Act requires local law enforcement to provide a detained individual with a written consent form prior to an interview with ICE that explains the purpose of the interview and that it is voluntary. The act also established that if a local law enforcement agency has provided ICE access to a detainee during the last year, it must organize a community forum the following year to provide information to

the public about ICE’S access to the individual and to receive and consider public comment.

Undersheriff Ron Johnson will give the presentation to the Board of Supervisors on behalf of the sheriff’s department.

Today’s forum will be held at 2 p.m. as a special presentation inside the board chambers at the Yuba County Government Center – 915 Eighth St., Marysville. The board’s regularly-scheduled meeting

will begin at 9 a.m.

The state TRUTH Act (Assembly Bill 2792) was signed into law in September

2016. The portion of the bill requiring community forums didn’t go into effect until Jan. 1, 2018.