‘ICE-free zones’ plan moves forward in Alameda County

Though Alameda County considers itself a haven for immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers, it at present has no guidelines proscribing federal immigration brokers from utilizing county property for enforcement operations.

Now a committee of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors is taking steps to vary that.

On the Thursday assembly of the Alameda County Together for All Ad Hoc CommitteeSupervisors Nikki Fortunato Bas and Elisa Márquez permitted proposals to separate “ICE-free zones” in any respect county-owned services and to implement a nationwide rollout coordinated response plan for when federal immigration enforcement officers conduct operations regionally.

The proposals will probably be thought-about and voted on by the complete Board of Trustees on January 27.

As a result of federal immigration brokers usually drive unmarked automobiles or put on plain garments as a part of their controversial techniques, Sanchez mentioned group members can name police in the event that they see somebody in plain garments making an arrest to confirm if it’s a legislation enforcement officer.

“How federal brokers take this place of not being clearly marked is past me,” Sánchez mentioned.

Probation Chief Brian Ford mentioned his division has a “zero tolerance” coverage on ICE cooperation, with no ICE detainer citations, arrests, transfers, interviews or youth-related inquiries since 2022.

The proposals come after different jurisdictions within the US adopted insurance policies banning federal brokers from utilizing public areas for civil immigration enforcement actions. In October, Chicago metropolis ​​properties declared “ICE-free zones.” And San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose, Santa Claraand different cities and counties have proposed or adopted related ordinances.

Valarie Bachelor, vp of the Oakland Unified College Board, spoke throughout public remark in assist of each insurance policies. “For a lot of of our immigrant households, county buildings are usually not an choice – they’re a necessity,” she mentioned. “They’re there to assist folks to find housing, well being care, meals help companies and library books.”

Susan Buensuceso, an organizer with Filipino Advocates for Justice, an Oakland-based nonprofit, additionally supported the plans, saying her group is working with Filipino well being care suppliers, a lot of whom are immigrants.

“Filipino well being care suppliers have supplied a really essential service to residents of Alameda County, and this can be very unhappy that they’ve to cover at instances,” Buensuceso mentioned. “A few of them can’t depart the nursing properties the place they work for concern of the presence of ICE.”

A number of audio system additionally urged the committee to think about banning the federal authorities from changing the closed girls’s jail in Dublin into an immigration detention heart. Kimberly Gasaway, county govt General Services Agencywhich manages the entire province’s land and property, Bas and Márquez mentioned the previous FCI web site in Dublin is federally owned, that means the province has no say in how it’s used.

Federal immigration brokers have come to Oakland in recent times to query and detain households and people as a part of focused enforcement actions. And final October, the Trump administration deliberate a crackdown, sending greater than 100 Customs and Border Safety brokers to Coast Guard Island, adjoining to Oakland. Though the operation was referred to as off, this was not earlier than federal police shot protesters with chemical irritants, and one individual was shot in a separate incident whereas backing a truck towards officers. A bystander was additionally injured in that incident.

Through the board’s committee assembly, residents and native public security leaders expressed concern concerning the deadly shootings of unarmed civilians Rene Good And Keith Porter by ICE officers in Minneapolis and Los Angeles, respectively, and whether or not one thing like this might occur regionally.

“I ask myself, who will probably be subsequent? Will anybody right here on this room be subsequent? Will I be subsequent?” mentioned Diego Villegas Aguilar, an organizer at Trabajadores Unidos Workers Unitedthroughout the public remark portion of the assembly.

Beneath the brand new federal finances, ICE will obtain an extra $75 billion over 4 years, a rise of greater than 300% in enforcement and detention capability, Bas mentioned. The finances makes ICE the best-funded federal legislation enforcement company in U.S. historical past.