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"ICE-free zones" plan headed to Alameda County Board for vote
The proposal for creating "ICE-free zones" in Alameda County passed a committee Thursday and is headed to the Board of Supervisors for a vote.
OAKLAND, Calif. - A proposal to create "ICE-free zones" within Alameda County in response to the Trump administration's immigration enforcement actions, is heading for a vote before the full Board of Supervisors.
The Alameda County Together For All ad hoc committee heard several hours of testimony and public comment on Thursday, before the two committee members Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas and Supervisor Elisa Marquez voted to forward the proposal to the board.
At the meeting
What they're saying:
At the meeting, the committee chair Fortunato Bas, Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez, District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson, and Public Defender Brendon Woods were among the city officials who discussed the proposal.
"This proposal for ICE-free zones will ensure that parking lots, parking garages, vacant lots, non public areas of our buildings cannot be used for federal immigration enforcement," Fortunato Bas said.
Other suggestions in the proposal would include posting signs at county buildings, requiring ICE agents to identify themselves.
It would also require all county buildings to create private areas for client business, and train county employees to not disclose immigration status data to ICE.
Hospitals would ask ICE agents to leave rooms during patient care and exams.
"The federal government cannot commandeer our resources," Supervisor Fortunato Bas said. "For our county owned and county controlled property and any non-public areas of our building, they will not be authorized to do federal immigration enforcement."
"I've made it very clear that we do not accept civil detainers at our facility at the jail. We only accept criminal warrants," Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez said.
Efforts in the Bay Area and abroad
Big picture view:
The efforts come as San Jose's City Council Tuesday voted unanimously to ban ICE agents on city property.
Santa Clara County's board adopted similar policies in December.
Nationwide, the outcry over the fatal shooting of a Minnesota mother and U.S. citizen Renee Good by an ICE agent, as well as other ICE actions, has sparked legal action.
The ACLU in Minnesota filed a class action lawsuit Thursday against the Trump administration, accusing ICE agents of seizing and mistreating US. citizens.
"What happened in Minnesota, we've seen it in California. We've seen it in Los Angeles. We've seen it in the California Central Valley.
Congressman Josh Harder (D-Stockton) sent a letter Thursday to Attorney General Pam Bondi, calling for the Department of Justice to drop its legal challenge against California's ban on ICE agents covering their faces and badges.
"All I'm asking for is ICE to operate the same as any other law enforcement agency. If you are following lawful orders, there's not reason to cover your face or your agency identification, and we know when law enforcement hides its identity, that accountability disappears and abuses thrive," Harder said.
The DOJ has indicated in the past that face-coverings are justified to protect agents from being targeted or harassed.
At the Alameda County meeting, some people voiced concern over the former Dublin federal facility becoming an ICE detention site. Fortunato Bas said county leaders would discuss whether to include an objection to that use when the full Board of Supervisors takes up the ICE-free zones proposal.
The Source: Original reporting by Jana Katsuyama of KTVU