Sheriff talks ICE communications
Honea updated county supervisors on his office’s communications with the federal agency
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea provided an update on his office’s communications with United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as part of an annual briefing and public hearing with the board of supervisors on Tuesday.
The Sheriff’s Office and its interactions with ICE are limited by the Truth, Trust and Values acts which regulate what kind of contact with agents the office and jail have when it comes to inmates of interest, Honea said.
“The Truth Act requires that the board of supervisors, the governing body of the county or the city, to hold this meeting where you hear about what the interactions were during the preceding year,” Honea said.
Honea said the Butte County Jail processed a total of 8,867 bookings in 2022. ICE, Honea said, expressed an interest in 11 of those bookings and of those 11 bookings, eight met the requirements for communication by the California Values Act. When those provisions are met, the sheriff is allowed to communicate with ICE agents regarding those bookings or inmates.
Breaking down the 11 inmates and their countries of origin, seven were from Mexico, two were from Laos, one was from India and another was from somewhere not listed. Five were between the ages of 3135 while two were between 18-25. The remaining individuals were older than 35. All were men.
Three of the men were released on bail, one was convicted and the remaining eight had not been convicted. ICE did not pick up eight of those they expressed interest in — only three. The sheriff said none were arrested by ICE after being released from the jail.
Supervisor Tami Ritter asked Honea if the jail would hold someone for the sake of ICE requesting a detainer, to which he explained that jail staff wouldn’t without a warrant.
“The only time I would keep them is if they got a warrant issued by a federal judge,” Honea said. “It’s rare that they do that. It’s kind of one of those struggles between federal and state authorities.”
The Butte County Board of Supervisors generally meets at 9 a.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month at its chambers located at 25 County Center Drive, Suite 205 in Oroville. Meetings are free and open to the public. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 28.