Marin has taken steps to limit ICE
The Marin Board of Supervisors took the right step, but maybe for the wrong reason, when it turned down demands that the county declare itself a “sanctuary” county and eliminate any cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
The supervisors rejected the option because, as Supervisor Katie Rice put it, there was little they could affect by passing an ordinance that would have no effect in changing Sheriff Robert Doyle’s approach when it comes to dealing with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Local activists want the county to essentially close its borders to ICE agents, cutting off any communication and cooperation between the county and those federal authorities.
Because Doyle is an elected department head, supervisors have limited say — beyond setting his department’s overall budget — over how he runs things.
Most important, Doyle oversees the county jail, where in the past ICE agents have detained released inmates who lack valid immigration status.
In response to repeated local complaints about ICE, particularly amid President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies, Doyle has measurably reduced both communication and cooperation with ICE.
ICE agents have the same access to information about jail inmates’ IDs and terms that is posted online for public review.
Since January, Doyle says the jail has provided release dates to ICE for only five inmates. Four of those individuals, Doyle said, had previous convictions for serious or violent crimes. One was facing charges for suspected domestic violence.
Should he have just released those inmates without consideration that they are not legal immigrants?
Doyle says his primary focus has been protecting victims of crime.
Local law enforcement’s chief concern is to remove fear of deportation for those who are victims or witnesses of a crime.
A strong case could bemade that those convicted offenders had lost the privilege of staying in the U.S.
The popular case against ICE is its sweeping up of hardworking residents who strive to obey our laws while staying below ICE’s radar. In too many cases, households are left broken.
Doyle makes a strong argument that these are not the people who have been involved in the jail’s communications with ICE.
Doyle’s numbers are telling and show that his department has listened and heard local concerns about ICE. His actions are more important than a political label.
From informing ICE of 75 jail inmates in 2018, that number dropped to 27 last year. This year, it has been five.
Those 27 people, Doyle stresses, involved multiple arrests, including 12 who had prior convictions for serious and violent crimes, rape, domestic violence, assault with a deadly weapon and involvement with gang activity, among them.
Ten of the 27 had previously been deported and had returned.
Doyle has worked with some advocates of Marin’s immigrant community to further limit contact and cooperation with ICE, outside of those people facing charges or having been convicted of violent or serious crimes.
The supervisors’ want the sheriff’s office to limit its communication with ICE to those who have been tried and convicted or those suspects for whom a judge has ruled there is probable cause for trial.
The supervisors also want the sheriff to minimize posting of inmate release dates while also meeting the legal requirement that information be made available to the public.
But in stopping short of declaring Marin a sanctuary county, their action frustrated local activists.
Doyle’s constituency is far larger than those sanctuary county advocates who turn out for county hearings, even with the ease of online participation.
In recent years, he has made substantive changes in significantly limiting his office’s cooperation and communication with ICE. He has listened to the community, including reaching out to Marin’s Latino community.
Instead of pushing for labeling Marin as a sanctuary for illegal immigrants, perhaps their advocates should recognize the significant changes that Doyle has implemented toward the same goal.