Immigrant advocates urge Sheriff Mims to get ICE out of Fresno jail

One week after Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims announced a new collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, immigrant rights activists said she’s gone too far.

The pilot program, implemented June 22, allows two ICE agents to be stationed inside Fresno County Jail. The agents determine whether those arrested are in the country legally and examine their criminal history before deciding whether they should be deported.

Immigrant supporters protested Thursday afternoon, calling the program a slap in the face and saying it ruins the already waning trust between immigrants and local law enforcement. Among those present were representatives from Fresno Immigrant Youth in Action, Faith in Community and the Mexican American Political Association.

Luis Ojeda, statewide coordinator of the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance, said Mims has ignored the community despite many invitations to different events over the years and requests to set up meetings. He said the new program is a bad idea for Fresno County and for immigrants.

“It’s clear Sheriff Mims feels that she is above the law, that she doesn’t need to listen to the community, that she can do whatever she wants,” he said. “We’re here to say that’s not going to be the case.”

Mims said she often speaks in the county’s rural communities and continually encourages anyone in the community to report when they have been victims of crimes, regardless of immigration status. She said the new program should not affect her relationship with immigrant communities.

“I don’t believe there should be any impact with people who are here to work hard, earn a living and not commit crimes,” she said. “We are not involved in deporting victims of crime.”

The program comes in response to a court case last year in Oregon, where a federal district judge ruled that Clackamas County just outside of Portland violated one woman’s Fourth Amendment rights by holding her for immigration authorities after she was eligible for release without probable cause. After the ruling, law enforcement agencies around the country stopped cooperating with ICE’s requests.

In announcing the program, the sheriff’s office called it a progressive approach and one of the only programs of its kind in the nation. They said the partnership will improve the safety of Fresno County citizens by keeping immigrants with serious criminal convictions, such as rape and domestic violence, off the streets.

At no extra cost to Fresno taxpayers, ICE agents can now perform background checks on foreign-born inmates every day between 6 a.m. and midnight. They have access to inmate records and interview rooms in the jail.

Immigrants are not being held beyond the length of their sentences. So far, 23 people have been transferred to ICE custody.

Before the program’s implementation, ICE filed requests for jail staff to notify the federal agency whenever an immigrant of interest was scheduled to be released. Agents would then decide whether to pick that person up for transport to an immigration detention facility.

The Rev. Carl Jones of the West Fresno Ministerial Alliance said the same system that criminalizes African Americans is the same system that criminalizes undocumented immigrants. He said that Mims should stop collaborating with ICE and change the new policy.

“Law enforcement is sworn to be an agency of protection, but these policies of discrimination and control are creating a culture of fear,” he said.

This story was originally published July 16, 2015 at 1:55 PM with the headline "Immigrant advocates urge Sheriff Mims to get ICE out of Fresno jail."