To: Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): County Administrator’s Office, Sheriff’s Office, County Counsel
Staff Name and Phone Number: 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 about individuals housed in Sonoma County’s detention facilities to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) during calendar year 2024.
This action is exclusively related to ICE activities in Sonoma County recorded during calendar year 2024 and does not contemplate or report on ICE actions taken by the current federal administration during calendar year 2025.
end
Executive Summary:
Although the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office does not enforce Federal immigration law, conduct deportations, request immigration status or conduct immigration sweeps, California’s 2018 Transparent Review of Unjust Transfers and Holds (TRUTH) Act (Assembly Bill 2792), Government Code 7283.1 (d), requires that a community forum be held by a local governing body (in this case, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors), if a local law enforcement agency (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 “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 2024, ICE requested notification from the Sheriff’s Office of the impending release from custody of 484 individuals. Upon reviewing these requests, the Sheriff’s Office returned 64 responses to ICE per Senate Bill 54 California Values Act guidelines. Please see the attachment “2024 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 June 23, 2025, followed by four subsequent weekly notices, published on June 30, July 7, July 14 and July 21. Prior to today’s forum, the County notified local community partners, issued a press release, and publicized the forum via social media.
This item concerns requirements related to the TRUTH Act - specifically, that the Board hold a public forum, receive the Sheriff’s data related to ICE access during calendar year 2024, and receive and consider public comment. This item reports only on ICE actions recorded by the Sheriff’s Office during calendar year 2024. 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 2024, ICE submitted 484 notification requests of impending release from custody, a decrease of approximately 2% compared to 492 requests in 2023. Upon reviewing these requests, the Sheriff’s Office returned 64 responses (approximately 13% of the total requests) to ICE, per SB 54 California Values Act guidelines, which was an 11 percent decrease from the prior year, 2023, when the Sheriff’s Office returned 72 responses. Whether the overall decrease in notification requests from ICE or the responses from the Sheriff’s Office can be attributed to policy, process, or enforcement changes at the federal level, or other demographic, societal, or economic factors, is unknown.
The Sheriff’s Office does not record racial data on ICE interactions, but it does record individuals’ self-reported country of origin during booking intake. Of the 64 ICE release notifications in 2024, 57 individuals, or 89%, self-reported their country of origin as Mexico. 7 individuals, or 11%, self-reported their country of origin as Armenia, Fiji, Guatemala or Honduras.
Sheriff’s Office Immigration Policies
When the Sheriff’s Office cooperates 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.
Racial Equity:
Was this item identified as an opportunity to apply the Racial Equity Toolkit?
No
Prior Board Actions:
May 17, 2024 - Public forum held; Board received ICE access data for calendar year 2023
October 10, 2023 - Public forum held; Board received ICE access data for calendar year 2022
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 Fiscal Impacts:
None - informational only
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
None - informational only
Attachments:
Attachment 1 - ICE Statistics Report 2024
Attachment 2 - TRUTH Act Community Forum Presentation
Attachment 3 - Sheriff’s Office Immigration Policy 415 (English and Spanish)
Attachment 4 - Sheriff’s Office Immigration Status Policy (English and Spanish)
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
N/A