Getting your
Trinity Audioplayer ready...MARTINEZ — Contra Costa County supervisors are facing demands from immigrant rights advocates who say county officials have dragged their feet when it comes to protecting immigrants from federal enforcement officers.
City leaders, medical and legal professionals, religious leaders, and activists gathered to call attention to the issue during a rally Monday morning outside a county administration building where the Contra Costa County Equity Committee was meeting.
“At a time when immigrant communities are under attack, local government have a responsibility to act,” said Mouneissa Wangara, a board member for the advocacy group Immigrant Action Network and an office assistant with the nonprofit African Advocacy Network. “The urgency of this moment cannot be overstated.”
The committee, on which supervisors Ken Carlson and Shanelle Scales-Preston serve, was scheduled to review a draft non-cooperation policy that would prohibit the use of county resources, including personnel, to assist federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement or any other immigration authority, unless required by state or federal law.
Several Bay Area jurisdictions have adopted similar policies or ordinances in recent years, largely in reaction to widespread immigration operations under the Trump administration. Some have been sanctuary cities or counties, limiting cooperation with federal officials for years, in some cases decades.
The counties of San Mateo, Alameda, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz have non-cooperation policies or ordinances on the books. So do cities such as Berkeley, Oakland, San Jose, Richmond, Pinole, and Antioch. The West Contra Costa Unified School District and BART also have similar policies.
Local jurisdictions like Pinole, San Jose, and Alameda County have also gone as far as to prohibit federal immigration officials from staging on county- or city-owned property, creating so-called “ICE-free” zones.
In Contra Costa County, where about 25% of its residents are immigrants, lawmakers have been working on some type of anti-ICE cooperation policy for more than a year.
“Every single person is deserving of equal protection under the law. More than that, every single person deserves to feel safe, especially people who are pushed to the margins,” said Pinole Councilmember Cameron Sasai, who authored Pinole’s ICE-free zone ordinance. “We are waiting and we are hungry for this type of ordinance.”
Though ICE-free zones or anti-cooperation laws have not been adopted in Contra Costa County, Scales-Preston noted during the committee meeting that other county-funded services not seen in other areas are in place.
Among them are Stand Together Contra Costa, a rapid response, legal aid, and public information program backed by a private-public partnership; and the Services and Access for Everyone Center, an information hub launched with $5 million of county funding.
At the center of the current debate is whether the board should adopt a policy or an ordinance. Advocates are arguing for an ordinance, a local law they say would provide stronger enforcement mechanisms for violations like fees or penalties.
But an ordinance, typically used to govern the citizenry as Carlson put it, would require multiple hearings and a 30-day waiting period before implementation.
Alternatively, a policy, which dictates the internal actions of the county, including its employees, could be implemented right at adoption, Carlson said. A policy would be “nimble,” giving the county the flexibility it may need to quickly make changes in the future when necessary, he said.
“I personally am motivated by providing something that has meaning,” Carlson said. “This is all about controlling the actions of us as a county and what we do in the services we provide. I personally take this obligation not only to protect my community but to protect the people who work for the county.”
Carlson and Scales-Preston agreed to forward the draft policy to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors for discussion and possible adoption, but also agreed that supervisors should have the opportunity to direct staff to draft an ordinance instead.
Responding to concerns about contractors distributing data to federal immigration agents, they also requested that staff provide the board with more detained information on what laws govern data sharing.
Whatever decisions are made, both supervisors said they wanted to ensure the county didn’t create false expectations around how much control it has over the federal immigration operations.
“The only thing we can protect as county supervisors are our county departments, our county buildings. I want everyone to feel safe if they’re coming to the Contra Costa Hospital or a clinic. I want everyone to feel safe if they’re coming to get resources through Contra Costa. That’s all we can protect. But if you’re getting out the car at the gas station, an ordinance or policy does not protect you,” Scales-Preston said. “We’re all in this together in how we protect and keep our community safe.”