No change on detaining illegal immigrants
SAN FRANCISCO — Sheriffs in Yuba and Sutter counties said Tuesday they plan to continue honoring detention requests from federal immigration officials.
They reacted to state Attorney General Kamala Harris' announcement that it's up to local police agencies to decide whether to comply with federal government requests to hold illegal immigrants.
Her statement involves the federal Secure Communities program, which was launched in 2008 to catch the worst criminal offenders.
Harris said the effort is flawed because about-one third of people targeted by the requests in California have never committed a serious crime.
The Secure Communities program checks the immigration status of people who are arrested for any crime, and federal immigration officials have insisted local police agencies must honor all requests for detentions.
Harris said her office has received dozens of inquiries from sheriffs and police chiefs confused about whether they must comply and hold detainees for up to 48 hours after they otherwise would have been released.
"There will be no changes in Yuba County's policy," Sheriff Steve Durfor said Tuesday.
Sutter County Sheriff J. Paul Parker said his department would also continue in the program.
"We haven't changed our policy, and I don't see that happening," Parker said Tuesday. "If (immigration officials) request a hold on an inmate, we'll hold them; if they don't request it, we won't."
Parker said the Secure Communities program only applies to illegal immigrants who've been arrested for a separate crime.
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck and others have said they want to stop honoring the immigration detention requests in cases involving low-level crimes.
"In the interest of public safety, it is our recommendation that those chiefs and sheriffs make a decision about whether or not they will detain an illegal immigrant based on their prior ties," Harris said.
The bulletin points out that the federal government neither reimburses the local police agencies nor protects them from lawsuits for wrongful arrests.
It asserts that the federal government can't "require state officials to carry out federal programs at their own expense."
However, Parker said federal officials do provide partial reimbursement for housing immigration detainees.
Last year, Sutter County received about $42,000 from the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, Parker said.
Last fall, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill to limit law enforcement involvement with Secure Communities, which has been blasted by immigrant advocates who say it deters the reporting of crime because people are afraid to come forward.
Santa Clara County and Cook County, Ill., preciously stopped honoring immigration detainers under the program.
The program is being reformed to focus "on criminals, recent border crossers and repeat immigration law violators" as targets for deportation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lori Haley said.
"ICE is committed to continuing to work with local law enforcement to promote public safety and address potential threats to our communities," Haley said.
