San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez told the county’s board that she will continue cooperating with federal immigration authorities as provided under state law.
“My policies are based on public safety,” Martinez said during the meeting, as per The San Diego Union-Tribune. “I’m following state law, not crossing any lines when it comes to federal immigration enforcement.”
Martinez explained her efforts are “based on the foundation of representing the voices of victims, as well as ensuring our communities not only feel safe, but that they are safe.”
“I believe it is far safer for ICE to receive individuals who meet qualifications in the jail setting, therefore not causing ICE to be in the community, seeking these individuals and potentially contacting family members and other members of the community as collateral,” the sheriff said.
A managing attorney with Immigrant Defenders Law Center, Paulina Reyes-Perrariz, criticized the “entanglement” between local and federal law enforcement entities.
“We are living in unprecedented times where the federal government is openly disobeying court orders to (do) whatever fits their agenda and using scary tactics to make us turn on our neighbors,” Reyes-Perrariz said. “I bring up what’s happening in the national level in order to highlight why the sheriff’s continued refusal to comply with local policy is so dangerous at this moment.”
Under the 2018 California Values Act, state and local law enforcement cannot use “money or personnel to investigate, interrogate, detain, detect, or arrest persons for immigration enforcement purposes, as specified, and would, subject to exceptions, proscribe other activities or conduct in connection with immigration enforcement by law enforcement agencies,” the Legislative Counsel’s Digest reads.
