If you are a criminal from another country and you like the Central Valley, Fresno is for you. The Police Chief of Fresno and the County Sheriff have declared the County a protective for criminal—and open season on the citizens. I would hope that Trump has these two arrested as criminal co-conspirators—and every crime of a illegal alien is a crime they go to jail for. These are not law enforcement agents, they are outlaws.
“The Fresno County Sheriff and Fresno police chief both told Fresnoland that local law enforcement will continue to stay out of enforcing federal immigration law, even under a second Trump presidency.
With Donald Trump headed to the White House in January, there’s growing concern over the promised mass deportations that helped fuel his campaign victory.
Trump’s plans for the largest mass deportation in American history, would rely, in some part, on local law enforcement cooperation.
In 2018 the Sacramento Democrats passed a law protecting criminals and making innocent citizens victims. Doubt if government can pass legislation making crime legal.
Fresno police say they don’t enforce immigration laws, and that won’t change under Trump
Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni said he thinks mass deportation would be unlikely. But if it happened, it would ruin lives and the economy.
by Omar Shaikh Rashad, Fresnoland, 11/21/24 https://fresnoland.org/2024/11/21/immigration-law/
What’s at stake:
The Fresno County Sheriff and Fresno police chief both told Fresnoland that local law enforcement will continue to stay out of enforcing federal immigration law, even under a second Trump presidency.
With Donald Trump headed to the White House in January, there’s growing concern over the promised mass deportations that helped fuel his campaign victory.
Trump’s plans for the largest mass deportation in American history, would rely, in some part, on local law enforcement cooperation.
But in California, there’s more at play.
In 2018, state legislators passed SB 54 — more commonly known as the California Values Act — which prohibits local law enforcement from playing a role in federal immigration enforcement, with exceptions for undocumented people convicted of serious or violent felonies and a number of misdemeanors.
No matter what’s happening in Sacramento or Washington, we will continue to do what we’ve always done: hold our local officials accountable and report the stories that affect daily life in the Central Valley.
Under California law, Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni and Interim Fresno Police Chief Mindy Casto both told Fresnoland that they do not think the role of local law enforcement will change under a second Trump presidency.
“Just because there’s a different person in the White House, to us, that’s not going to change how we do business because we are regulated and we have to comply with SB 54,” Zanoni told Fresnoland in an interview Nov. 13.
Both law enforcement leaders stressed that dealing with routine crime and public safety issues in the Fresno-area is already more than a full-time job — and they do not have the time or resources to enforce federal immigration laws.
“Our duty to this community is to keep it safe, and that’s really what I want to focus on,” Casto told Fresnoland on Monday. “We have our hands full doing a good job with that, and we still have a lot of strides we would like to make.”
Trump’s mass deportation plan has so far been vague. Earlier this week, Trump confirmed on social media that he would use the military to deport undocumented people. Additionally, he plans to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented people.
And his planned appointment of Tom Homan to lead the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has immigration advocates deeply concerned.
It was under Homan’s command that ICE separated children from their families, with its so-called “zero-tolerance” policies in 2018. In a 60 Minutes segment last month, Homan said that, under the second Trump administration, ICE would raid worksites where undocumented people are employed.
ICE can’t make arrests inside Fresno County jails
Regardless of local law enforcement cooperation, ICE can still arrest undocumented people.
Zanoni said ICE agents pay attention to public records, including jail booking logs and court documents, which are easily accessible to the general public online.
Unlike a city police department, the county sheriff’s office operate county jails in California, which typically hold individuals serving short sentences and those awaiting criminal court trials.
Zanoni said the Fresno County jail does not reach out to ICE or communicate with them first, it only responds to requests it receives from ICE. Those requests get rejected unless they meet exceptions in state law for undocumented people convicted of certain crimes.
“We make sure that (ICE’s) request complies with SB 54 and make sure the offense that the individual is in custody for is one of the ones contained in SB 54,” Zanoni said. “Then we will respond back to them. But up until that point, we don’t provide them information.”
Zanoni said the number of undocumented people the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office has transferred to ICE annually has not fluctuated dramatically depending on who is president.
Zanoni’s position is a marked shift from that office’s position in 2016, when then-Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims cheered Trump’s aggressive crackdown plans and allowed ICE to come into the vestibule of the Fresno jail and arrest undocumented people, which is different from a custody transfer.
Back in 2016, Mims said the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office could be a model for what local cooperation with ICE could look like across the nation. Back then, ICE agents were stationed at the Fresno County jail to verify the immigration status of those booked on criminal charges.
Zanoni said it’s different now: ICE is no longer allowed to arrest people inside the jail’s vestibule. He said he couldn’t recall exactly when the policy changed, but it was before he took over office as sheriff in January 2023.
“I know under my time as sheriff, that has not been allowed,” Zanoni said.
Zanoni added that the jail’s vestibule is not a public place. However, the lobby of a jail or the area directly outside a jail facility is a public place. Zanoni said he cannot stop ICE agents from arresting undocumented people in those areas.
ICE arrests in jail lobbies or outside county facilities are not tracked by the Sheriff’s Office “because we’re not conducting the enforcement action,” Zanoni said. “I would like to know how many (arrests) they’ve actually made in the lobby or any place like that — I don’t have the numbers.”
Fresno police don’t work with ICE, interim chief says
Casto said she couldn’t think of a time in the last several years when the Fresno Police Department has shared information with ICE, assisted the federal agency with arrests or even received requests from the federal agency.
“Honestly, we don’t work with ICE,” Casto said. “It’s not one of the agencies that we work with.”
Casto said there are circumstances where state law — and police department policy — allow local law enforcement agencies to share information with ICE. But even then, she said the Fresno Police Department has not shared any information with ICE.
“Every year, we’re required to provide a report to the Attorney General of California indicating whether or not we’ve made any immigration enforcement-related arrests,” Casto said. “Every year that I’ve been aware for the past several years, the answer’s been zero.”
Mayor Jerry Dyer, when he was Fresno police chief, took a similar stance back in 2016 ahead of Trump’s first term, when he said the Fresno Police Department would not be collaborating with ICE and local police should not be enforcing federal immigration laws.
Will national rhetoric lead to a dip in reported crime?
Researchers have long understood that undocumented people are less likely to contact police due to concern over their immigration status coming up. Zanoni said that’s a concern he has, especially for anyone who is a witness or victim of a crime.
“We need to make sure that we are taking care of people that are victims of crimes,” Zanoni said, “and that we are helping them out, and that we are getting them justice regardless of their immigration status. If they’re a victim, they’re a victim.”
Casto, on the other hand, said it would be disappointing if undocumented people are wary of engaging with local police due to immigration rhetoric and policy on the national level.
“Our huge investment in building trust with the community has paid off,” Casto said. “People call us without fear, for the most part, of immigration status, but it could change. I just don’t want to speculate, because right now we don’t know.”
Casto also said she does not think the federal government will require local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law.
“I’ll believe it when I see it — that we’re asked to actually do immigration enforcement at the local level,” Casto said.
Zanoni said he personally doesn’t think undocumented people would be removed from the U.S. en masse. He added that it would be wrong for the Trump administration to carry out mass deportations, and particularly harmful to Fresno County.
“I do not believe there’s going to be mass deportations,” Zanoni said. “It would be devastating to our economy. It would be devastating to many of these families who have come here to America for a better life, to help their families.”
