Alameda County officials have had enough of watching immigration agents work out of the Santa Rita Jail parking lot in Dublin. County lawyers sent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement a cease-and-desist letter on Monday, demanding the agency immediately stop what they called its “unauthorized and unlawful use” of county property for arrests.
Weeks of Parking Lot Detentions
The letter followed weeks of reports that ICE had turned the jail’s lot into a staging ground. According to the Alameda County Immigration Legal and Education Partnership, rotating groups of up to six ICE agents began using the parking lot outside Santa Rita Jail as a hub for detaining people entering or leaving the facility starting around Oct. 25, as detailed by KQED. The same report noted that as of Friday night, the sheriff’s office had locked the jail lobby, apparently with the goal of keeping ICE at bay.
Katie Nielsen of CBS News Bay Area reported that Santa Rita Jail adjusted its visitation policy in response to the ICE detainment activity.
A Chase Into the Lobby, Then a Physical Confrontation
Two specific incidents appear to have pushed county leaders toward the cease-and-desist letter. Alameda County Counsel Andrea Weddle wrote that on November 1, an ICE agent chased an individual from the parking lot into the Santa Rita Jail lobby and forcibly detained him there, according to the East Bay Times. A week later, on November 8, Weddle wrote that two ICE agents engaged in a physical confrontation with members of the public in the jail’s lobby.
The outlet’s report also cited ACILEP figures showing at least 19 immigration arrests near Santa Rita Jail and the East County Hall of Justice over the preceding month. KALW separately reported that the group has recorded 10 arrests since the previous weekend, suggesting the pace has not let up.
Sheriff Says Her Office Has Stopped Cooperating
Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez has drawn a line of her own. Per KALW, Sanchez said her department has stopped cooperating with ICE or honoring administrative immigration enforcement requests, a stance that puts the sheriff’s office at odds with the agents operating just outside her jail’s doors.
How Neighboring Counties Are Responding
Alameda County is not alone in confronting a surge in ICE activity at its jails. In Santa Clara County, officials restricted access to the Elmwood Correctional Facility, limiting entry to people with scheduled visits, attorneys visiting clients, service providers and cleaning services, Local News Matters reported. Visitors there must now present identification and explain the purpose of their visit, and the restrictions are in effect indefinitely.
That report also described a volatile atmosphere around Santa Clara County’s jails, with ICE observers counting roughly 10 to 12 agents at the facilities each day during the prior week. Observers documented an agent using a Taser on a man during a foot pursuit on Oct. 28, after which he was hospitalized, and the Rapid Response Network said it had spotted 20 new ICE vehicles arriving from nine different states in recent weeks.
The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported that under Elmwood’s new rules, people picking up someone released from custody are no longer allowed into the parking lot and must arrange pickups outside the restricted areas. Santa Cruz County, meanwhile, took a different approach: its sheriff’s office expanded free video visits for people in county jail for the next 30 days amid increased ICE activity in the area, according to Lookout Santa Cruz. That expansion allows six complimentary video visits per week, compared with an average of two, and was negotiated at no additional cost to the county.
