Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Friday they don’t need Alameda County’s permission to enforce federal immigration laws.
The statement comes after county officials sent a cease-and-desist letter earlier this week about recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity on county-owned property.
“ICE enforces the law 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in all 50 states, including in California. No sanctuary politicians are going to stop that,” DHS officials said in an emailed statement. “ICE does NOT need to receive permission from local authorities to enforce federal immigration laws — a clear federal responsibility under Article I, Article II, and the Supremacy Clause.”
Alameda County’s top lawyer, interim County Counsel Andrea Weddle, sent a cease-and-desist letter to federal immigration authorities Monday demanding that their agents stay away from Santa Rita Jail.
In it, Weddle says ICE agents have been using the jail’s parking lot, lobby and surrounding areas to make arrests, which is prohibited by a county ordinance and “creates significant safety risks” for Alameda County Sheriff’s Office personnel and members of the public.
The letter cites two recent examples of ICE activity that put jail personnel and visitors in danger.
On Nov. 1, an agent allegedly chased someone from the parking lot into the jail’s public lobby and “forcibly detained him.” A week later, a pair of ICE agents “engaged in a physical confrontation” with some people in the same lobby.
Additionally, according to the letter, ICE agents continue to use county property for enforcement activity despite being instructed not to by Sheriff’s Office command staff.
DHS identifies man arrested at Santa Rita Jail
On Friday, DHS officials acknowledged the Nov. 1 arrest and said their agents picked up Norlan Jose Alvarez Gonzalez, a 26-year-old from Nicaragua, during a targeted enforcement action after he was released from Santa Rita Jail following his arrest on suspicion of DUI.
Alvarez Gonzalez allegedly entered the country illegally in January 2024 through the southern border and was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, according to DHS.
He was released following that arrest and on July 16, an immigration judge issued a final order of removal because he allegedly failed to appear for his mandatory immigration hearings, DHS officials said.
Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas said that the county is determined to stand up to ICE activity on county property.
“ICE continues to ignore our County ICE Free Zones policy, so I will continue to stand with our community and advocate for additional county enforcement action.”
Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas
She said that the agency’s aggressive enforcement tactics are scaring people away from seeking medical care and other county services, and are keeping friends and family from visiting the jail and providing support.
“ICE continues to ignore our County ICE Free Zones policy, so I will continue to stand with our community and advocate for additional county enforcement action,” Fortunato Bas said in an emailed statement Friday.
“I will continue to do everything possible to ensure Alameda County protects the rights of our residents, keeps families together, and enforces our policies,” she said.
ICE enforcement draws scrutiny across Bay Area
The back-and-forth between county and federal officials comes amid an apparent surge in ICE enforcement activity in the region.
The uptick includes the high-profile arrests of a University of San Francisco nursing professor and a University of California, Berkeley student, as well as at least five arrests this week in San Mateo County and 19 in Alameda County over the past few weeks.
In addition to Santa Rita, jails in Santa Clara and Monterey counties have seen an increased ICE presence in recent days and Monterey County officials sent their own cease-and-desist letter to DHS last week.
That letter followed ICE activity in and around county properties that allegedly violated parking restrictions, blocked ingress and egress into county facilities and otherwise featured agents “operating in an unsafe manner,” according to Monterey County officials.
One such incident on Oct. 27 resulted in the county jail being put on lockdown for three hours.
