Tuesday, March 21, 2017 • Sheriff’s department discusses ‘Sanctuary County’

Publisher’s note: This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, March 21, 2017 edition of the Lassen County Times.

Captain Matt McFarland from the Lassen County Sheriff’s Department was invited to speak at the Tea Party meeting held  Tuesday, March 14.

Recently, new bills have been introduced regarding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Some changes to the previous methods for dealing with illegal immigrants are currently taking place.

Regardless as to the federal decisions, McFarland confirmed the sheriff’s department will be following California state law, as the sheriff’s department contains state peace officers rather than federal peace officers.

Previously, if an illegal immigrant was in the process of serving time in jail, the individual would finish their time and officers would contact ICE to inform them of the individual’s date of release. From there, it was up to ICE to seize the individual.

Now, the proposed state law declares that once the individual serves their sentence in jail, there are to be no calls made to ICE regarding the illegal immigrant.

If the law passes, officers in California will not be able to contact ICE regarding an illegal immigrant once the individual serves their time for local charges.

If officers were to disregard the bill, McFarland speculates that the California Attorney General would raise charges against local sheriffs.

McFarland reiterated that the Lassen County Sheriff’s Department has no intention of defying the state.

If the bill is made into a law, the federal government would only be aware of an arrested illegal immigrant’s location and release date if they initiated contact with the sheriff’s department and requested that information.

However, under the new law, if an ICE agent were to request a meeting with the incarcerated individual, he or she is no longer obligated to meet with the agent as the individual would have the right to refuse contact.

McFarland said, “The sheriff is bound to enforce the laws of the state of California.”

Thus, whether or not the Board of Supervisors decides that Lassen County will be a Sanctuary County, the sheriffs’ actions will follow the state law.

McFarland encourages interested parties to keep notes and pay attention to the developments behind different bills, laws and acts.