United States of America v. State of California et al

Filing 171

REPLY by United States of America to RESPONSE to 2 Motion for Preliminary Injunction. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A, # 2 Exhibit B, # 3 Exhibit C, # 4 Exhibit D, # 5 Exhibit E, # 6 Exhibit F, # 7 Exhibit G, # 8 Exhibit H, # 9 Exhibit I, # 10 Exhibit J, # 11 Exhibit K, # 12 Exhibit L, # 13 Exhibit M, # 14 Exhibit N, # 15 Exhibit O, # 16 Exhibit P, # 17 Exhibit Q, # 18 Exhibit R, # 19 Exhibit S, # 20 Exhibit T, # 21 Exhibit U, # 22 Exhibit V, # 23 Exhibit W, # 24 Exhibit X, # 25 Exhibit Y)(Reuveni, Erez)

EXHIBIT G

County jails released 349 people wanted by ICE since 'sanctuary law' started - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Much of California’s decrease is because of a 71 percent drop in noncriminal arrests out
of the San Diego field office. In the first quarter of fiscal 2018, ICE officials in the San
Diego area arrested 1,622 people who did not have any criminal conviction, a significant
increase from the 465 arrested the previous quarter and the most of any field office
across the country for that time period. In the second quarter, from January to March,
ICE made 457 noncriminal arrests around San Diego.
Arrests of those with criminal convictions in San Diego did not change significantly
following the implementation of S.B. 54. ICE arrested 637 people with criminal histories
between October and December, and the agency arrested 639 between January and
March.
Across California, ICE arrests of those with criminal convictions dropped about nine
percent, from 3,862 to 3,509.
Peter Nunez, a former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California who is on the
board of an immigration restrictionist think tank, said it’s probably too soon to know
what the changing arrest numbers mean.
“It’s not a promising trend, but let’s see what happens as we go forward,” Nunez said.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/immigration/sd-me-sanctuary-laws-20180525-story.html[6/7/2018 5:01:11 PM]

County jails released 349 people wanted by ICE since 'sanctuary law' started - The San Diego Union-Tribune

David FitzGerald, a professor at UC San Diego who studies immigration, said that it was
hard to draw definitive conclusions from the data trend because criminal arrests would
include both felonies and misdemeanors.
“But this evidence is consistent with the idea that the authorities in California are
continuing to cooperate with ICE when it comes to unauthorized immigrants who have
committed serious crimes inside the United States,” FitzGerald said. “S.B. 54 just made
sure that the cooperation would only turn over serious offenders.”
Loren Collingwood, an assistant professor at UC Riverside who has studied immigration
enforcement and sanctuary policies, said that the drop in California arrest numbers in
the second quarter of fiscal 2018 might not be related to S.B. 54. He suggested detention
capacity issues and networks of immigrant rights advocates alerting communities about
enforcement might have contributed to lower numbers.
ICE might’ve also gone for “low hanging fruit,” he said, in the earlier months of the
Trump administration as the agency ramped up its enforcement. Those remaining in the
country might take more work to track down and arrest.
What concerned Nunez more immediately than the arrest numbers were the 349 poeple
that the Sheriff’s Department said had been released from custody instead of turned over
to ICE.
“Sanctuary law is terrible,” Nunez said. “It’s horrible. Half of the people that ICE, or INS
in the old days, used to be able to take custody of are now not being taken and they’re
being released back into the street.”
He applauded the Orange County Sheriff’s decision to publish who is getting released
from jail so that everyone, including ICE, can see it. The San Diego Sheriff’s Department
has a report of inmates pending release on its website.
So far in 2018, the most serious charge faced by people that the Sheriff’s Department did
not turn over to ICE was misdemeanor spousal battery, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s
Department said.
Misdemeanor domestic violence is also one of the three most common charges for people
that the Sheriff’s Department could not tell ICE about. The other two were misdemeanor
offenses related to DUI and disorderly conduct or public intoxication.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/immigration/sd-me-sanctuary-laws-20180525-story.html[6/7/2018 5:01:11 PM]

County jails released 349 people wanted by ICE since 'sanctuary law' started - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Dilkhwaz Ahmed, executive director of License to Freedom, an organization that helps
survivors of domestic violence in immigrant and refugee communities, said that she
supports S.B. 54 because it helps victims feel more comfortable coming forward
regardless of their immigration status. (Several police departments said they received
fewer domestic violence reports from Latino communities in the first year of the Trump
administration and attributed that to fear of immigration enforcement.)
Every case is different, Ahmed said. For some, the deportation of an abuser brings muchneeded relief. In other situations, victims don’t want to report abuse if it will lead to the
abuser’s deportation.
She recalled one client who refused to go forward with reporting her husband if it meant
he would be deported.

“She said, ‘I cannot handle the fact that my kids are going to look at me and say you are
the reason for my father to be deported,’” Ahmed recalled.
Jonathan Underland, a spokesman for state senator Kevin De León, who wrote the bill
for S.B. 54, said that the list of crimes that qualify for communication between local law
enforcement and ICE is based on an earlier law from 2013 that involved negotiations
with sheriffs.
“The SB 54 list explicitly covers all serious and violent crimes, including felony DUIs and
felony domestic violence crimes, such as Corporal Injury to spouse/Cohabitant Penal
Code 273.5 under the Battery category,” Underland said.
The Trump administration sued California over S.B. 54 and two other laws it says impede

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/immigration/sd-me-sanctuary-laws-20180525-story.html[6/7/2018 5:01:11 PM]

County jails released 349 people wanted by ICE since 'sanctuary law' started - The San Diego Union-Tribune

immigration officials’ work. San Diego County joined the Trump administration to
oppose the laws while the city of San Diego sided with California in support of them.
President Donald Trump hosted a roundtable at the White House May 16 with California
officials who oppose the idea of sanctuary policies.
Supervisor Kristin Gaspar, who spearheaded San Diego County’s decision to join the
lawsuit on the side of the Trump administration, attended the meeting.
“We've created a situation where Governor Brown makes San Diego a great place to
commit a crime because you have options,” Gaspar told the president. “You can either be
across the border in a matter of minutes and shielded by Mexico, or you have the option
of simply staying put, shielded by Governor Moonbeam.”
Mayor Sam Abed of Escondido told Trump that having ICE work with police in his city
helped reduce crime.
“In our city, more immigrant people report crime,” Abed said. “And this narrative that
sanctuary city will allow more immigrants to report crime is fake news, Mr. President.”
Tom Wong, a professor at UC San Diego who worked as an advisor to the White House
under the Obama administration, recently published findings from a questionnaire given
to unauthorized immigrants from Mexico that found a statistically significant difference
in willingness to report crimes based on whether they believed that local police work with
ICE or don’t work with ICE.
About 60 percent fewer people who believed that local police worked with ICE said they
would be willing to report a crime they witnessed, and about 43 percent fewer said they
would be willing to report a crime that happened to them.
“The survey provides evidence to support what some law enforcement officers have said,
that when there are clear dividing lines between local law enforcement and ICE,
undocumented immigrants are more likely to report crimes and have greater trust in
public institutions.”
Wong also authored a study last year published by the left-leaning Center for American
Progress that found 35.5 fewer crimes are committed on average per 10,000 people in
sanctuary counties compared to nonsanctuary counties.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/immigration/sd-me-sanctuary-laws-20180525-story.html[6/7/2018 5:01:11 PM]

County jails released 349 people wanted by ICE since 'sanctuary law' started - The San Diego Union-Tribune

The administration’s messaging about sanctuary policies doesn’t line up with the
evidence, Wong said.
“You’re not able to say you’re making decisions on the best available evidence,” Wong
said. “That’s a dangerous position to be in.”
When asked about Wong’s reports, Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for ICE, said that the
agency has policies in place to protect unauthorized immigrants who cooperate with
police in criminal investigations, including educating immigrants about U visas for crime
victims and T visas for human trafficking victims.
“ICE has long recognized the importance of victims and witnesses and the critical role
they play in successful investigations and prosecutions,” Mack said. “These policies are
intended to minimize the effect that immigration enforcement may have on the
willingness and ability of victims and witnesses to call the police to report crimes or
protect their safety.”
The lawsuit over California’s laws has two hearings coming up in June.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/immigration/sd-me-sanctuary-laws-20180525-story.html[6/7/2018 5:01:11 PM]

County jails released 349 people wanted by ICE since 'sanctuary law' started - The San Diego Union-Tribune

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County jails released 349 people wanted by ICE since 'sanctuary law' started - The San Diego Union-Tribune

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