Monterey County officials are developing a coordinated response to President-elect Donald Trump’s promised mass deportations—a prospect that hits close to home in a county where nearly 30% of the population is foreign born.
“We hope to bring key stakeholders together that could assist our county in defending our immigrant community because we value them,” said First District County Supervisor Luis Alejo, who is spearheading the effort.
Alejo is aiming to have the outlines of the plan ready in time for Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, only the second since the November 5 election. The centerpiece is an ad hoc committee “to help make recommendations, enhance communication, and help deploy resources in defense and in protection of our immigrant communities in Monterey County,” according to a resolution Alejo introduced two days after the election to establish the committee. The board is scheduled to vote on the resolution Tuesday.
Alejo said he already has commitments from a cross section of community leaders.
“Agriculture has said yes, hospitality has said yes, our labor council has said yes, and so have our school districts,” he said. “But we have more to reach.”
Alejo said he is also seeking to enlist health care providers and non-profit organizations to serve as the county’s “eyes and ears” in the immigrant community, and to help with rumor control.
“Fear and misinformation spreads very quickly. And so we want to be ahead of it with the proper messaging,” he said.
That includes making certain that immigrant families know their rights. Alejo plans to seek county funding to help get the word out.
“Our county provides critical services like CalFresh, Medi-Cal; a lot of public programs that our working families heavily rely on. If there are enforcement actions in our communities, we don't know if that's going to cause immigrants to disenroll and not apply,” Alejo said.
Alejo said the committee will include representatives of the legal community to develop ways to challenge aspects of the federal crackdowns.
Less clear, he said, is the role of law enforcement. Alejo wants a commitment from local agencies that they will not participate in federal immigration enforcement.
“Those conversations need to happen,” Alejo said. “Last time in 2017, we had different police chiefs. They did provide that message.”
This time, he said, the conversations with law enforcement are still ongoing.
“That's part of this work that we'll be doing in the next couple of weeks,” Alejo said.
The California Values Act, passed during the first Trump administration in 2017, prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies—including school security officers—from conducting immigration enforcement, and bars nearly all cooperation with federal authorities.
Monterey County agencies said they intend to follow the law.
“The MPD will adhere with the law as laid out in California Government Code 7284, The California Values Act,” said Assistant Monterey Police Chief Michael Bruno, in an email to KAZU.
A spokesman for the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office said the agency also abides by the California TRUTH Act, which restricts federal authorities’ access to inmates in the county jail and requires the county to report to the public on inmates released into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. The county said it released 3 inmates to ICE last year, compared to 213 in 2016, the year before the law took effect.
The Salinas Police Department did not respond to an email seeking a comment. The department’s policy manual prohibits officers from asking suspects about their immigration status, investigating immigration violations, or detaining someone for civil violations of immigration laws. But the manual says officers may notify federal authorities if they have a “reasonable suspicion” that a suspect has violated federal criminal laws by re-entering the country after being deported.
Alejo said he wants to see a clearer commitment from the county.
“I hope that Monterey County will make very clear that no Monterey County resources will be used for federal immigration enforcement,” he said. “Those are the types of actions that reassure our community that we're not going to be using any of our resources to carry out a responsibility that belongs only with our federal agencies.”
But the Trump administration’s new border czar, Tom Homan, has warned communities that don’t intend to cooperate with the feds to “get the hell out of the way.”
“We’re going to do the job without you or with you,” he told Fox News on November 12.
Alejo said that Monterey County is no stranger to immigration crackdowns, including during the first Trump administration in 2017. But he worries that this time may be worse.
“What we expect to happen starting next year is something that we haven’t seen perhaps in our lifetimes,” he said.
