Following two hours of public comment, the Marin County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a policy prohibiting the use of county property, resources and information for federal immigration enforcement.
The policy prohibits U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from using county-owned property and directs county employees to notify county leadership within 24 hours when federal immigration personnel are on county property for any kind of enforcement actions. That includes parking lots and staging areas.
“In terms of places like the farmers market or other areas that are generally open to the public, the county cannot take an action to restrict individuals from entering an area open to the public based on them being a federal immigration official,” chief deputy county counsel Kate Stanford told the board.
County employees are prohibited from voluntarily using public funds, personnel or equipment to assist any kind of federal civil immigration enforcement except where it may be required by law, according to the policy. Beginning in January, the sheriff and probation officers must provide the board with monthly reports detailing any interactions with federal immigration authorities.
This puts Marin County in line with other Bay Area counties that have adopted policies and ordinances to counter ICE activities. The counties of Alameda, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Santa Cruz and San Diego have all passed ordinances restricting access to county property and requiring reporting on immigration enforcement activities.
Stanford said the state also recently passed Assembly Bill 1807, a law that prohibits federal immigration enforcement on state property.
“It’s very similar to what is in our policy,” she said.
Federal and local laws in conflict
Under the U.S. Constitution’s supremacy clause, the federal law is established as the supreme law of the land in the event of a conflict between state or local law, Stanford said. As a result, state and local governments cannot adopt a law that would prohibit federal immigration officials from being present in areas that are otherwise open to the public.
“Nevertheless, under the 10th Amendment’s anti-commandeering doctrine, the federal government cannot compel state or local governments to administer or enforce federal regulatory programs, including federal immigration laws,” said Laura Rosas, assistant county executive for the county’s Justice and Welfare Group.
Local jurisdictions may decline to use their personnel and resources to assist with federal civil immigration enforcement, she said. They also can restrict any voluntary cooperation in the field of immigration law.
Public commenters focused on the board’s decision to adopt a policy rather than an ordinance.
“The county is resisting an ICE-free law on two erroneous grounds,” said commenter Tammy Edmonson. “One, that there is no difference between a law and the policy the county has proposed, and two, that the county has no power to restrict ICE activity. You know better, a policy and a law serve two very different purposes.”
“The legal limits on the county’s authority to regulate the federal government are the same under either a policy or an ordinance,” said Stanford. “The county cannot directly regulate federal immigration enforcement through either mechanism.”
“If our review had identified additional, legally defensible measures that demonstrated meaningful protections, we would have recommended them.”
County Executive Derek Johnson
County Executive Derek Johnson said in his presentation to the board that an administrative policy can provide the same core protections as an ordinance while allowing faster implementation and easier revisions.
“Unfortunately, neither can prevent federal authorities from exercising lawful federal immigration powers in Marin County,” he said. “If our review had identified additional, legally defensible measures that demonstrated meaningful protections, we would have recommended them.”
A moment of silence
Protesters stood and turned their backs to Marin County Sheriff Jamie Scardina as he spoke of his commitment to hold people accountable for serious crimes. Scardina said his department is implementing a new technology that will restrict public access to booking logs at the county jail, to prevent them from being used by immigration agents to find undocumented immigrants in detention.
“I want every person who lives in this county to know they can call us when they are a victim of a crime,” Scardina said. “When their child is in danger, when they witness something wrong, or they simply need our help, I do not want someone to hesitate to call 911 because they fear asking for a deputy for help will expose them or their family to immigration enforcement.”
The protesters have appeared in nearly a dozen board meetings in the last year, and they vowed to return to the next board meeting. Their wrenching testimony reflects the frustration faced by local communities under the Trump administration’s continuing crackdown on immigration.
“To date, 350,000 have been deported, and at least 65,000 immigrants are in detention on any given day, leaving U.S.-born children without parents and siblings and the abrupt loss of productive members across communities,” said the accompanying county staff report to the board.
Since 2025, the report said, the federal administration has conducted widespread and intense immigration enforcement, in a manner that often violates law with the intent of creating a pervasive environment of intimidation and fear across immigrant communities.
“Two weeks ago, I was standing in the waiting room at the jail and a young gentleman, absolutely unknowing of what was coming whatsoever, walked out,” said commenter Renee Goddard. “Seven ICE agents in their black masks, boasting, arrogant, having a lot of fun that day, grabbed him and they took him out. My heart is completely and totally broken.”
