A PAIR OF PROPOSALS designed to protect Alameda County residents from President Donald Trump’s aggressive mass deportation policies will remain in the development phase for at least the next month or so.
Following a committee hearing on the items Thursday last week, Supervisors Nikki Fortunato Bas and Elisa Marquez decided not to pass them on to the full Board of Supervisors until they can get additional input from various county departments.
One of the proposals would direct County Administrator Susan Muranishi to draft a “response plan” for federal immigration enforcement activity and the other would establish “ICE free zones” in properties owned or controlled by the county.
While Fortunato Bas appeared ready to move the proposals out of committee for a hearing in front of the full board as early as next week, Marquez thought the other three supervisors would be more likely to support them following a more thorough vetting by county staff at the committee level.
“I’m just really concerned that our colleagues will not be ready without us fully exploring those other department heads,” Marquez said.
At Thursday’s Alameda County Together for All committee meeting, which is composed of just the two supervisors, representatives from the Alameda County Health and Social Services agencies were on hand to discuss existing policies about interactions with federal immigration officials — some of which are still in the early stages of development — and the need to do more staff training as those policies are fleshed out.
For example, some of the guidelines that currently exist direct county staff to contact managers when interacting with law enforcement and to rope in county lawyers when presented with warrants from federal agents.
The committee will now solicit similar input from other county departments, potentially at an early-December meeting, including from the Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office, the Public Defender’s Office and the General Services Office, which manages all of the county’s properties and facilities.
Currently, the proposal to draft an immigration enforcement response plan includes several provisions, including the need for “rapid coordination” between county departments and community groups “to protect individual rights, ensure access to services, and promote public safety.”
Such a plan would also include strategies for safeguarding county workspaces and health care facilities and providing staff training on compliance with state and county laws that prohibit “collaboration with federal immigration enforcement and development of preparedness plans on what to do if immigration enforcement activities take place at work.”
The “ICE free zones” proposal would restrict “the use of all county-owned and county-controlled properties for immigration enforcement activity,” including for “staging, processing, or surveillance.”
To accomplish this, the county would, “where appropriate,” use physical barriers like locked gates to limit access to parking lots, vacant lots or garages, for example, and post signs declaring such properties off limits to federal immigration agents.
The establishment of “ICE fee zones” and the development of immigration response plans has already happened or is underway in several other jurisdictions locally and around the country, including Santa Clara County, San Jose and Chicago.
In addition to supporting the proposals during the public comment portion of the meeting, several people urged the supervisors to find a way to prevent or discourage the federal government from using the now-empty former women’s prison in Dublin as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility.
Fortunato Bas said that she will check in with the community groups spear-heading that effort to see how their concerns might be incorporated in this or future board actions.
“While this administration’s mass deportation agenda is spreading fear, causing trauma, and separating families, I’m really proud that our county is showing up for each other, that our communities are demonstrating courage, resilience and an unshakable commitment to organizing and keeping each other safe,” Fortunato Bas said.
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