Marin Sheriff Ignores Pleas to Decouple From ICE

SAN RAFAEL, California (03-11) – Marin County Sheriff, Jamie Scardina, who has been under pressure along with the county Board of Supervisors to discontinue the Sheriff’s voluntary participation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), made a presentation on March 11 at a public TRUTH Act Forum as required by California’s TRUTH ACT AB 2792 (Transparent Review of Unjust Transfers and Holds) of 2017.

Under the Act, any local legislative body is required “…to hold a community forum annually if local law enforcement allows ICE access to any individual.” Additionally, the bill ensures that records related to ICE access are subject to the public records act. Through its voluntary participation in the SCAAP program, the Sheriff’s Office receives a $1,000 payment for each undocumented immigrant taken into custody by ICE.

As such, they have processed over more than 1,000 undocumented county inmates in the past three years, raking in $1.2 million in revenue to defray the costs related to the department’s expenses for the incarcerated individuals.

Activists objecting to the sheriff’s participation have presented the supervisors with a petition containing more than 6,000 signatures demanding the sheriff end his cooperation with ICE. To date, their demands have not been met.

Sheriff Jamie Scardina opened the forum before dozens of mostly older concerned citizen activists who packed the crowded auditorium by iterating that there was a lot of concern and “a lot of misinformation about what people think the Marin County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) participates in when it comes to immigration enforcement” and that he was hoping to clear up those “misperceptions.”

After a short explanation of how his department processes prisoners and interfaces with ICE, Scardina began a PowerPoint presentation of department policy, statistical data buttressed with facts and figures along with a spreadsheet examining the department’s participation in the SCAAP grant program.

One slide outlined actions that were not taken regarding immigration status and information shared with ICE, emphasizing their non-participation in immigration enforcement at the jail, all of which was presented as a voluntary concession that was later debunked by a speaker who reminded everyone it was in fact required under the California Values Act, SB 54.

While not providing information to ICE directly, the sheriff’s online booking log includes the names, charges and release dates for prisoners. ICE uses this log as a guide to rearrest those who it has a particular interest in. Within the log is also listed ICE notification requests and outstanding foreign warrants for individuals.

The booking log effectively functions as an ICE resource and activists have continually called for its reform to emulate that of San Francisco where instead of listing inmates’ information, requires users to enter the name of an inmate before only minimal information can be accessed.

During the public comment portion of the forum, speaker after speaker once again called on the Board of Supervisors and the MCSO to discontinue all interaction with ICE and to “SCRAP SCAAP.”

Specifically, the speakers demanded that the sheriff refuse all ICE requests without a judicial warrant and that the sheriff stop publishing the booking logs and implement a searchable system like those used by San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Cruz counties. In addition, they called for the sheriff to publicly commit to a full and permanent withdrawal from SCAAP.

Several speakers pointed out how many Marin families are fearful of a looming massive ICE raid, of being afraid to leave their homes, in reporting crimes to police and in not seeking medical treatment due to fears of being rounded up by ICE.

Marin families deserve better than this and while PowerPoint presentations might present a polished view of the sheriff’s position, he has missed the point that his countywide constituents want more from him by permanently and completely ending the Sheriff’s Office complicity with ICE.

Report and photos by Phil Pasquini

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