Marin County Executive Derek Johnson (seated) listens to public comment at the Marin County Board of Supervisors meeting in San Rafael on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. A protest was organized in opposition to the county's cooperation with ICE, the federal immigration agency. (George Alfaro/Bay City News)
On Tuesday, a group of protesters dominated the Marin County Board of Supervisors meeting to demand the county Sheriff’s Office reject federal assistance grants that require local law enforcement to share data on immigrant detainees with the U.S. Department of Justice.
The grant is called the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, or SCAAP, and it is administered by the DOJ in conjunction with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It is the second time the group has acted. The first rally was Oct. 21.
“ICE is not a law enforcement organization,” said speaker Carissa Klein. “ICE is a criminal enterprise which is engaging in torture and human trafficking on a massive scale. The Sheriff’s Office is supposed to be here to protect us from criminals like ICE, and instead they are gleefully complicit in the crimes being committed against their own residents. It’s time to put this item on the agenda and get each member of the board on the record.”
According to the DOJ, SCAAP funds are used to pay states and local governments to cover officer salary costs incurred for jailing immigrants lacking permanent legal status who have at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions and are incarcerated for a minimum of four consecutive days.
Protesters hold up signs opposing ICE, the federal immigration agency, behind Marin County Executive Derek Johnson during the Marin County Board of Supervisors meeting in San Rafael on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (George Alfaro/Bay City News)
To determine eligibility to receive funds, local law enforcement must provide a detainee’s name, date of birth, country of birth, and other personal information to the DOJ.
In 2024, Marin County received $338,136 in SCAAP funding, according to records from the Bureau of Justice Assistance within the DOJ.
‘This is public intimidation’
Public commenter Frank Shinneman held up a photograph of Marin County sheriff’s deputies dressed in plainclothes, sunglasses, baseball caps and face kerchiefs. He said they dress similarly to ICE agents and appear to align with enforcement operations.
“So, if you’re going out to a medical appointment, if you’re going to pick up your kids from school or take them in, you look out the door and you see something like this,” Shinneman said. “You recognize it pretty quickly. This is public intimidation, whether it’s intentional or unintentional. I submit to you that this has no place in Marin law enforcement. Anonymity prevents accountability. Anonymity prevents trust.”
Raquel Ortegon (left) and Vanessa Mejia attend the Marin County Board of Supervisors meeting in San Rafael on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. The two participated in a protest organized in opposition to the county’s cooperation with ICE, the federal immigration agency. (George Alfaro/Bay City News)
County Executive Derek Johnson spoke on the matter following public comment.
“The county’s participation is compliant with SB 54, the California law which prohibits the use of local law enforcement resources for immigration enforcement activities,” Johnson said, adding that the SCAAP grant reimburses the county and the state for the local costs for people who are arrested, not because of status, but because of conduct.
“The county, and I want to say this, remains firmly committed to our values,” he said. “The activities of ICE agents do not align with Marin County’s values in which we as a county are emphasizing community trust, fairness, and equitable treatment of all persons who are arrested.”
Johnson said the consideration of SCAAP funding is one of the matters that will be addressed by the county’s newly formed Civilian Oversight Commission, which was created a year ago to provide accountability to the Sheriff’s Office policies and procedures, as well as process citizen complaints. That commission, he said, is in the process of adopting bylaws and working with agencies and labor partners on developing an operating agreement.
Not snapping up SCAAP
Other counties in California have rejected SCAAP grants. San Francisco has been a non-participant in SCAAP since the early 2020s, reaffirming that position in 2025 as being inconsistent with the city’s sanctuary ordinance due to the sharing of immigrant data.
“(W)e as neighbors should be outraged that our neighbors are being terrorized and full of fear. When our immigrants’ rights are taken, everyone’s rights are taken.”
Margaret Fisher, meeting attendee
Santa Cruz County Sheriff Chris Clark announced in August that the county would no longer participate in SCAAP. In 2018, then-Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva cut ties with SCAAP, saying in a statement that it “essentially sold our undocumented inmate database information for federal funds.”
“I’m standing here for the people who built this county and everyone here knows this,” said commenter Margaret Fisher at the Marin meeting. “My baby’s nanny, my gardener, the people who pick our fruits, pack our foods, cook our foods, build our homes, ICE spreads terror on these people. And we as neighbors should be outraged that our neighbors are being terrorized and full of fear. When our immigrants’ rights are taken, everyone’s rights are taken.”
Ruth Dusseault is an investigative reporter and multimedia journalist focused on environment and energy. Her position is supported by the California local news fellowship, a statewide initiative spearheaded by UC Berkeley aimed at supporting local news platforms. While a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism (c’23), Ruth developed stories about the social and environmental circumstances of contaminated watersheds around the Great Lakes, Mississippi River and Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. Her thesis explored rights of nature laws in small rural communities. She is a former assistant professor and artist in residence at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture, and uses photography, film and digital storytelling to report on the engineered systems that undergird modern life.
Protesters urge Marin County supervisors to reject sheriff’s federal immigrant jail grant
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On Tuesday, a group of protesters dominated the Marin County Board of Supervisors meeting to demand the county Sheriff’s Office reject federal assistance grants that require local law enforcement to share data on immigrant detainees with the U.S. Department of Justice.
The grant is called the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, or SCAAP, and it is administered by the DOJ in conjunction with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It is the second time the group has acted. The first rally was Oct. 21.
“ICE is not a law enforcement organization,” said speaker Carissa Klein. “ICE is a criminal enterprise which is engaging in torture and human trafficking on a massive scale. The Sheriff’s Office is supposed to be here to protect us from criminals like ICE, and instead they are gleefully complicit in the crimes being committed against their own residents. It’s time to put this item on the agenda and get each member of the board on the record.”
According to the DOJ, SCAAP funds are used to pay states and local governments to cover officer salary costs incurred for jailing immigrants lacking permanent legal status who have at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions and are incarcerated for a minimum of four consecutive days.
Protesters hold up signs opposing ICE, the federal immigration agency, behind Marin County Executive Derek Johnson during the Marin County Board of Supervisors meeting in San Rafael on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (George Alfaro/Bay City News)
To determine eligibility to receive funds, local law enforcement must provide a detainee’s name, date of birth, country of birth, and other personal information to the DOJ.
In 2024, Marin County received $338,136 in SCAAP funding, according to records from the Bureau of Justice Assistance within the DOJ.
‘This is public intimidation’
Public commenter Frank Shinneman held up a photograph of Marin County sheriff’s deputies dressed in plainclothes, sunglasses, baseball caps and face kerchiefs. He said they dress similarly to ICE agents and appear to align with enforcement operations.
“So, if you’re going out to a medical appointment, if you’re going to pick up your kids from school or take them in, you look out the door and you see something like this,” Shinneman said. “You recognize it pretty quickly. This is public intimidation, whether it’s intentional or unintentional. I submit to you that this has no place in Marin law enforcement. Anonymity prevents accountability. Anonymity prevents trust.”
County Executive Derek Johnson spoke on the matter following public comment.
“The county’s participation is compliant with SB 54, the California law which prohibits the use of local law enforcement resources for immigration enforcement activities,” Johnson said, adding that the SCAAP grant reimburses the county and the state for the local costs for people who are arrested, not because of status, but because of conduct.
“The county, and I want to say this, remains firmly committed to our values,” he said. “The activities of ICE agents do not align with Marin County’s values in which we as a county are emphasizing community trust, fairness, and equitable treatment of all persons who are arrested.”
Johnson said the consideration of SCAAP funding is one of the matters that will be addressed by the county’s newly formed Civilian Oversight Commission, which was created a year ago to provide accountability to the Sheriff’s Office policies and procedures, as well as process citizen complaints. That commission, he said, is in the process of adopting bylaws and working with agencies and labor partners on developing an operating agreement.
Not snapping up SCAAP
Other counties in California have rejected SCAAP grants. San Francisco has been a non-participant in SCAAP since the early 2020s, reaffirming that position in 2025 as being inconsistent with the city’s sanctuary ordinance due to the sharing of immigrant data.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff Chris Clark announced in August that the county would no longer participate in SCAAP. In 2018, then-Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva cut ties with SCAAP, saying in a statement that it “essentially sold our undocumented inmate database information for federal funds.”
“I’m standing here for the people who built this county and everyone here knows this,” said commenter Margaret Fisher at the Marin meeting. “My baby’s nanny, my gardener, the people who pick our fruits, pack our foods, cook our foods, build our homes, ICE spreads terror on these people. And we as neighbors should be outraged that our neighbors are being terrorized and full of fear. When our immigrants’ rights are taken, everyone’s rights are taken.”
Ruth Dusseault, Bay City News
Ruth Dusseault is an investigative reporter and multimedia journalist focused on environment and energy. Her position is supported by the California local news fellowship, a statewide initiative spearheaded by UC Berkeley aimed at supporting local news platforms. While a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism (c’23), Ruth developed stories about the social and environmental circumstances of contaminated watersheds around the Great Lakes, Mississippi River and Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. Her thesis explored rights of nature laws in small rural communities. She is a former assistant professor and artist in residence at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture, and uses photography, film and digital storytelling to report on the engineered systems that undergird modern life.
More by Ruth Dusseault, Bay City News