Alameda County tells ICE to stop using Santa Rita Jail property in Dublin for immigration arrests

The attorney for Alameda County has ordered federal immigration agents to quit using county land around Santa Rita Jail in Dublin for enforcement work, sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement a formal cease-and-desist letter, KTVU reported.

The letter went out Monday from the county's attorney and called the activity an "unauthorized and unlawful use of County property," according to KTVU. KTVU said ICE had not yet replied to the station's questions.

What the county says happened

A news release from Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas's office, as quoted by KTVU, said agents had been using the parking lot outside the jail for about two weeks.

It cited arrests near Santa Rita on Oct. 25 and Oct. 30 and one on Nov. 5 outside Dublin's East County Hall of Justice, all confirmed by the county's immigration rapid-response network, the Alameda County Immigration Legal Education Partnership.

That group, known as ACILEP, says it has confirmed 19 immigration-related arrests across the county over the past two weeks, in Dublin, Livermore, Hayward, Union City, Berkeley and Oakland, KTVU reported. Neither the station nor the county identified the people detained or why they were held.

"Alameda County will not stand by while our residents are targeted and our public resources are misused," Bas said in the release, according to KTVU. She said the county wants residents to be able to reach county services "without fear or intimidation."

The sheriff's position

Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez, whose office runs Santa Rita, put out her own statement Saturday night saying deputies had seen federal immigration enforcement outside the jail. She said the activity can add to the worries of families, attorneys and others trying to get into the facility, and that she was checking with county counsel and with other California sheriffs about her legal options, KTVU reported.

Sanchez also said deputies must stay "neutral and impartial in enforcing the laws that govern us all," according to the station. According to KALW, the sheriff also said her office no longer works with ICE or acts on its administrative immigration requests.

What is not known

Neither KTVU nor KALW reported what the county plans to do if agents keep using the lots, and no public federal reply to the letter had appeared in news reports by midday Tuesday. ICE has not said how many arrests it has made in the county or whether the jail grounds were used for them.

The arrest counts above come from the advocacy network, not from ICE.

Sources

ktvu.com

kalw.org