Sonoma County voters favor citizenship for Dreamers

Nearly two-thirds of surveyed Sonoma County voters support legal curbs on local law enforcement that prevent officers from inquiring about immigration status when deciding to detain people, according to new results from The Press Democrat Poll.

A slightly lower share of those surveyed — 60 percent — said they either supported a policy change that limits Sonoma County jail officials' cooperation with federal immigration agents or would want to see even less cooperation with federal authorities in immigration cases.

And 86 percent of poll respondents said that Sonoma County's Dreamers — young immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children — should be allowed to stay in the country. A solid majority — 58 percent — said they should also be granted citizenship.

The results show Sonoma County's electorate stands in strong support of the sanctuary policies and laws in California that help safeguard undocumented immigrants.

Those measures have come under sharp attack by the Trump administration, which has sought to ramp up deportations, targeting a broader cross-section of undocumented residents, while further cracking down on illegal crossings at the southern border.

“The vast majority of voters in Sonoma County want to ensure that immigrants are treated fairly and allowed to stay and granted citizenship as opposed to being deported,” said David Binder, whose San Francisco-based research firm conducted the poll for the newspaper. “They're kind of in tune with the state overall, which tends to want to be more accommodating with the immigrants rather than deport them.”