First came the federal immigration raids in Bakersfield in January, right after the presidential election results were certified. Then came the ones in Los Angeles. Then there was an arrest or two closer to home, in San Jose and Concord. And now, some U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity has finally been reported here in the North Bay. Volunteers with the North Bay Rapid Response Network, a local immigrant support group that’s been fielding raid rumors since Donald Trump took office, said they confirmed a handful of ICE arrests in Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park in early March. And Sonoma County government officials say another person was arrested by ICE in the lobby of the county’s probation department this past Friday. From their press release:
At approximately 2 p.m., a plain-clothed agent working with ICE entered the lobby of the Probation Department Adult Division at 600 Administration Drive in Santa Rosa and placed handcuffs on an individual who had just been released from the Main Adult Detention Facility and was reporting to Probation per a court order. The agent, who did not identify themselves to staff, left with the individual in a white van with federal license plates.
The chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, Lynda Hopkins, said in the release that she fears last Friday’s ICE arrest will erode trust in local government. She said “it sends the wrong message to members of our community who deserve access to County services — especially clients who must trust the Probation Department and visit in order to comply with terms of their probation.” Going forward, Supervisor Hopkins is assuring the public: “While we will not interfere with lawful arrests, we will work with all County departments to ensure immigrant communities feel safe accessing County services, and that their rights are upheld.” Org leaders at the North Bay Rapid Response Network, meanwhile, are telling everyone to stay calm, learn their rights and keep reporting any suspected ICE activity to their hotline at 707-800-4544.
Zooming out to the national level, U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials claimed in their own press release last Thursday that their ICE agents have made 32,809 “enforcement arrests” within the first 50 days of the Trump presidency. There has been lots of arguing back and forth between political factions about whether undocumented immigrant arrests and deportations are higher under Trump than they were under Biden. All depends on who you ask: Fox News is taking a pro-Trump view of the data, and NBC News is taking a pro-Biden view of the data, per usual. Hard to know what to believe these days…
Note from Simone: This piece originally appeared in the weekly email newsletter I write for the Bohemian, called Wine Country Today. Subscribe here!
