To: Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): County Executive’s Office, Sheriff’s Office, County Counsel
Staff Name and Phone Number: David Guhin, Andrew McLaughlin 565-3776, Sheriff Eddie Engram, 565-2781
Vote Requirement: Informational Only
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
5:30 pm - TRUTH Act ICE Access Community Forum
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Pursuant to Government Code Section 7283.1(d), hold a community forum regarding provision of information to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) during calendar year 2025 about individuals housed in Sonoma County’s detention facilities.
This action is exclusively related to ICE communications with the Sheriff’s Office about individuals housed in detention facilities during calendar year 2025.
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Executive Summary:
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office does not enforce Federal immigration law, conduct deportations, request immigration status or conduct immigration sweeps. However, California’s 2018 Transparent Review of Unjust Transfers and Holds (TRUTH) Act (Assembly Bill 2792), Government Code 7283.1(d), requires that an informational community forum be held by a local governing body (in this case, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors), if a local law enforcement agency (the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office) has returned notification responses to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency during the prior calendar year.
The California TRUTH Act states that, “a local law enforcement agency may provide … data it maintains … regarding the number and demographic characteristics of individuals to whom the agency has provided ICE access.” The Sheriff’s Office reports that, during calendar year 2025, ICE requested notification from the Sheriff’s Office of the impending release from custody of 601 individuals. Upon review of these requests, the Sheriff’s Office returned 69 responses to ICE per Senate Bill 54 California Values Act guidelines. Please see the attachment “2025 US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Data” for more information.
To comply with the advanced noticing requirement of 30 days prescribed in the TRUTH Act, the County issued the first “Notice of Public Hearing” in the Press Democrat on April 10, 2026, followed by four subsequent weekly notices, published on April 17th, April 24th, May 1st, and May 8th. Prior to today’s forum, the County notified local community partners, issued a press release, and publicized the forum via social media.
This item exclusively concerns requirements related to the TRUTH Act - specifically, that the Board hold a public forum, receive the Sheriff’s data related to ICE communications during calendar year 2025, and receive and consider public comment. This item reports only on ICE communications recorded by the Sheriff’s Office during calendar year 2025, and only for individuals incarcerated in county detention facilities. This item does not report on other ICE activities in Sonoma County. No action is required by the Board.
Discussion:
California Government Code 7283.1 (d) provides the following:
“Beginning January 1, 2018, the local governing body of any county, city, or city and county in which a local law enforcement agency has provided ICE access to an individual during the last year shall hold at least one community forum during the following year, that is open to the public, in an accessible location, and with at least 30 days’ notice to provide information to the public about ICE’s access to individuals and to receive and consider public comment. As part of this forum, the local law enforcement agency may provide the governing body with data it maintains regarding the number and demographic characteristics of individuals to whom the agency has provided ICE access, the date ICE access was provided, and whether the ICE access was provided through a hold, transfer, or notification request or through other means. Data may be provided in the form of statistics, or, if statistics are not maintained, individual records, provided that personally identifiable information shall be redacted.”
The California Values Act (SB 54) limits how state and local law enforcement can collaborate with federal immigration. Whether ICE submits a request for notification and whether the Sheriff’s Office responds to ICE in accordance with the California Values Act requirements ultimately depends on the unique circumstances of each individual.
According to Sheriff’s Office data collected during calendar year 2025, ICE submitted 601 notification requests of impending release from custody, an increase of approximately 24% compared to 484 requests in 2024. Upon reviewing these requests, the Sheriff’s Office returned 69 responses to ICE (approximately 11.5% of the 601 requests), per SB 54 California Values Act guidelines. The 69 responses in 2025 represents a 7.8% increase from 2024, when the Sheriff’s Office returned 64 responses (approximately 13% of the 484 total requests received in 2024), per SB 54 California Values Act guidelines. Information about the SB 54 Qualifying and Historical Convictions regarding each of the 69 individuals in which the Sheriff’s Office responded to an ICE information request, is attached. This information has identifying information redacted but does include the specific convictions for each individual.
Whether the overall increase in notification requests from ICE pertaining to individuals housed in county detention facilities can be attributed to policy, process, or enforcement changes at the federal level, or other demographic, societal, or economic factors, is unknown.
Sheriff’s Office Immigration Policies
When the Sheriff’s Office communicates with ICE, it complies with the protections in the SB 54 California Values Act by helping undocumented victims obtain U-Visas (non-immigrant visas for victims of crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse while in the U.S.); providing incarcerated individuals’ release dates to ICE pursuant to State law and to the public as requested; and sending incarcerated individuals’ fingerprints to the State Department of Justice as required by law. Incarcerated persons may request a review of these notification requests. The Sheriff does not enforce Federal immigration law, deport anyone, ask for immigration status, have authority over ICE, nor does it conduct immigration sweeps.
The Sheriff’s Office website for immigration information includes information about SB54 notifiable charges, immigration policies, and the Immigration Notification Matrix, which is also included in the attachments to this item. The website can be reached at the following URL: <https://www.sonomasheriff.org/immigration>.
Since 2022, the Sheriff’s Office has adjusted its policy outlining requirements for responding to ICE requests three times, in November 2022, January 2024, and February 2025. The November 2022 modification added PC §460(b), second-degree burglary, to the non-reportable list. The January 2024 modification removed misdemeanor wobbler charges and added clarifying language regarding confirmation of prison punishments. The February 2025 modification removed notification based on judicial determination of probable cause, added felony exceptions, and made all Proposition 36 charges exceptions to the notification requirement. In general, these modifications reduce the instances in which the Sheriff’s Office communicates with ICE. Under SB 54, the Sheriff could respond to significantly more requests from ICE, but has chosen to focus responses for those incarcerated individuals with repeat, serious, and/or violent felony convictions.
Racial Equity:
Was this item identified as an opportunity to apply the Racial Equity Toolkit?
No
Prior Board Actions:
July 22, 2025 - Public forum held, Board received ICE access data for calendar year 2024
May 17, 2024 - Public forum held, Board received ICE access data for calendar year 2023
March 02, 2022 - Public forum held, Board received ICE access data for calendar year 2021
February 09, 2021 - Public forum held, Board received ICE access data for calendar years 2019 and 2020
June 04, 2019 - Public forum held, Board received ICE access data for calendar year 2018
April 10, 2018 - Public forum held, Board received ICE access data for calendar year 2017
Fiscal Summary
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
None - informational only
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
None - informational only
Attachments:
Sheriff’s Cover Letter
ICE Statistics Report 2025
Sheriff’s Office Immigration Policy 415
ICE Convictions, 2025 - Redacted
TRUTH Act Community Forum Presentation
Sheriff’s Office Matrix for ICE Notifications
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board: