California fires set off debate about immigration and sanctuary policies
Northern California had a string of devastating fires last week. It did not take long for anti-immigrant forces to try to capitalize on human tragedy for political ends.
ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan
The Los Angeles Times reports that ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan blasted Sonoma County for so-called sanctuary policies that he said has “left their community vulnerable to dangerous individuals and preventable crimes.” Here is the statement:
Photo courtesy of Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano lashed back, saying Homan’s statement was “inaccurate, inflammatory and damages the relationship we have with our community.” “ICE attacked the Sheriff’s Office in the midst of the largest natural disaster this county has ever experienced,” Giordano said. “ICE’s misleading statement stirs fear in some of our community members who are already exhausted and scared.”
The controversy stemmed from the arrest Sunday of a homeless man accused of felony arson. The man, who immigration officials said has been returned twice to Mexico, told deputies he set a fire in Maxwell Farms Park in Sonoma Valley, where he’s been seen sleeping, to stay warm. He is being held on $200,000 bail. A day later, federal immigration authorities said they lodged a detainer, or a request to local jailers to keep an inmate behind bars for up to two extra days.
Far-right news outlet Breitbart inflated the story in a report published Tuesday, suggesting that man arrested was behind the string of wildfires 8 that devastated the wine country. Buzzfeed (“Breitbart Made Up False Story That Immigrant Started Deadly Sonoma Wildfires, Sheriff’s Office Says”) looked at “right-wing media outlets report[s] that an undocumented immigrant was arrested in connection to the [wine country] fires” and concluded that “[t]he reports are false.”
Sheriff Giordano shot down Breitbart’s claim. “There is a story out there that he’s the arsonist in these fires. That’s not the case. There’s no indication he’s related to these fires at all,” Giordano said of the man arrested. He also reiterated that there is no evidence that the man started the wildfires, the causes of which remain under investigation.
KJ