On March 26, in an act of racist reaction to California’s SB 54, the Orange County Sheriff’s Dept. has made public the release dates of inmates in county jails, with specific attention paid to undocumented inmates.
Sheriff Don Barnes is quoted as stating “Our inability to relinquish these individuals to the custody of ICE causes them to be returned to the communities which they prey upon.”
Instead of masking their reasons, the OC Sheriff made it crystal clear in this racist statement that their intention is to target undocumented immigrants, hoping to funnel them to federal agents in their ongoing wave of terror.
California’s Senate Bill 54 is known as the “Sanctuary State” bill, a weak liberal attempt at stemming the tide of ICE raids across the country which are targeting undocumented immigrants in every setting, including workplaces, schools, hospitals, and even random arrests of suspected undocumented immigrants.
SB 54 makes it more difficult for municipal police and other local law enforcement to directly aid the federal immigration agencies in their attempts at rounding up people in these raids, thus preventing local police from joining in this nationwide terror campaign.
The OC Sherriff department’s decision to publicly announce when inmates are due to be released, especially admitting that they are trying to specifically target undocumented people with this act, truly exposes them as the reactionary racists that they are.
Continuing to fully admit they want nothing more than to help in the deportation of and breakup of undocumented families, Barnes said: “ICE is going out and actively looking for them. It would be easier for everyone involved and safer for the community and law enforcement if they were relinquished to the custody of ICE rather than returned to the community.”
This cowardly act comes at the same time as the recent announcement that the 2020 U.S. Census will ask whether or not people have U.S. Citizenship. This is a question that has not been on the census since the 1950s. Because it asks this question, undocumented people are more likely to not respond to the census survey at all, thus impacting the accuracy of the census results. Census data are used to determine many things including the level of federal services as well as the drawing of Congressional Districts.
Liberals express outrage that this might result in states with large undocumented immigrant communities having fewer U.S. Representatives, but fail to condemn this as one of many recent actions taken by the state to further terrorize and attack the working class.
Orange County is one of several areas in California where racists are exposing themselves, holding hands with racist cops to oppose measures like SB 54 that aim to protect undocumented families from the gestapo-like raids. We must stand with our immigrant allies and smash these fascists who wish to destroy families and terrorize Black and Brown working class
communities.
