Fresno, CA
On 12/23/13 five members of the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance and I were chained to ladders blocking the exit to the Fresno county jail. We did this to prevent vans from taking undocumented persons from the jail to ICE detention facilities for deportation. We stayed there chained for several hours. Our demand was that Fresno Sheriff Margaret Mims stop cooperating with ICE to hold undocumented arrestees for deportation under the Secure Communities Act, and thus help prevent the separation of families.
One of the organizers stated that his older brother had been deported after being stopped by local law enforcement for driving without a license. A sign was visible at the protest that labeled President Obama “Deporter in Chief”.
Later in the day Sheriff Mims issued a statement reversing her previous hard line position of full cooperation with ICE. As a result of the protest, she declared that she would instead abide with the newly enacted state law Trust Act(AB4) signed by Governor Brown. Under provisions of the Trust Act local law enforcement will no longer detain immigrants for deportation if they are arrested for minor crimes and otherwise eligible for release. They will only detain persons for immigration if charged with a felony or if registered in the California Sex and Arson registry, or hold an outstanding warrant for federal felony or conviction. She stated that she would leave enforcement of immigration law to the federal government.
Today we pause to celebrate. However, this victory is only a start in the battle for the rights of all immigrants, whether here legally or not.
