Los Angeles County Bars Transfers to ICE Custody Without a Warrant

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted this week to ban cooperation between the county jail and federal ICE agents, unless a judicial warrant is first obtained. As ABC7 news reports, “the board’s vote makes permanent a moratorium on cooperation established by Villanueva in April in response to the COVID-19 crisis.”

The motion was authored by Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis and Supervisor Sheila Kuehl. As Supervisor Solis stated in a press release: “It is unsettling to hear of unsanitary conditions in detention facilities due to ICE’s inability to keep detainees safe from COVID-19, and that many are dying after exposure to the virus while in ICE custody. We have also heard of horror stories due to problematic ICE detainer requests that call for the imprisonment of immigrants without due process or probable cause. This raises serious constitutional concerns. We have a moral and constitutional obligation to stop transferring people to ICE custody during this pandemic and long after it is over.”

A broad coalition of community-based organizations supported the motion, including the ACLU of Southern California, CHIRLA, Homies Unidos, Immigrant Defenders Law Center, JusticeLA, California Immigrant Policy Center, and many more.

This groundbreaking local protective policy will serve as a model for other localities seeking to end the jail-to-deportation pipeline.

IE