Stanislaus sheriff navigates tricky California sanctuary law in meetings with residents

Stanislaus County Sheriff Jeff Dirkse is caught between two sides of a heated national debate on deportation.

News media usually frame this as an immigration issue. Deportation might be more accurate, because we’re really talking about the sheriff’s role in returning certain undocumented criminals to their native lands.

One side of the debate is led by none other than President Donald Trump, who vividly denounced California’s sanctuary law in Tuesday’s State of the Union speech.

On the other are immigrant advocates who oppose any cooperation between local authorities and federal agents.

Dirkse’s approach to this tricky issue cuts a path somewhere in the middle. It might be described as limited cooperation with ICE, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement — neither ignoring the sanctuary state law initially known as Senate Bill 54, nor fully embracing it.

SB 54, enacted in 2017, restricts contact between local law enforcement and ICE, but does not prohibit it in cases involving violent undocumented immigrants. It was meant to counter Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and deportation ramp-up.

Unfortunately, Dirkse’s predecessor, former Sheriff Adam Christianson, allowed himself to be used as a prop when Trump blamed a Newman police officer’s death on SB 54. The president also trotted out the brother of a Tulare homicide victim in Tuesday’s speech while railing on California’s sanctuary state law, saying it allows “their whole state to be a sanctuary for criminal, illegal immigrants, a very terrible sanctuary with catastrophic results.” Sanctuary advocates dispute whether the sanctuary law had anything to do with either death, and say Trump exploited the tragedies to whip up his political base.

A provision of SB 54 requires sheriffs to present an annual report in a community meeting, telling about his jailers’ contacts with ICE. Dirkse did that in November before the county Board of Supervisors — and ran into a political buzz saw. Activists packed the meeting chamber, and more than 20 assailed even the slightest cooperation with ICE. Some asked that the board enact an ordinance prohibiting Dirkse from such communication.

There is no chance of that happening. The board’s five supervisors, all Republican, showed zero eagerness to even consider such an ordinance.

They shouldn’t.

Dirkse’s approach is measured, rational and reasonable, and perfectly allowed under the sanctuary state law itself. Most important, it’s an honest attempt to keep us safe — Job No. 1 for any sheriff.

This is what everyone should know:

• Stanislaus deputies do not round up undocumented immigrants and turn them over to ICE, as feared by some. The law prohibits that.
• Deputies don’t ask people for immigration status. If a deputy violates this policy, she or he should be immediately reported to Dirkse himself, he recently told a group in west Modesto. The Bee would want to know as well.
• Any contact with ICE is initiated by ICE — not by local deputies.
• Only undocumented immigrants previously convicted of certain serious crimes are vulnerable to deportation, and only if they’re already in custody awaiting prosecution for new offenses.

Those meeting these narrow criteria amount to a mere 1.14% of everyone booked into Stanislaus County jail in 2018, or 220 inmates. And Dirkse ultimately handed over to ICE only 46. All previously were convicted — not just arrested — for child abuse, assault, serious drug offenses, weapons violations or grand theft.

The idea that these people should have been released among us rather than turned over to ICE is ludicrous.

Dirkse fulfilled his obligation under the law with his November presentation to county leaders, but he drew some criticism because the format of that meeting did not allow him to respond to audience questions. Well-meaning advocates were right to complain about that.

And he knows it. That’s one reason he did a December town hall meeting in Turlock, where he could address audience concerns. A couple of weeks ago, the sheriff repeated the ICE presentation in west Modesto. Dirkse said he’s scheduled to do it again later this month in Waterford, and again in Patterson in a few weeks, and probably again in Riverbank. He’s exploring similar presentations to high school groups.

That sort of transparency is laudable. Here is the main reason: More talk equals less fear.

Each of these community meetings brings comments from audience members who relate stories about people fearing that any contact with authorities could result in deportation. That fear is real and pervasive. It’s why many victims of crime unfortunately do not report it.

The best way to counter that fear is with information.

The sheriff must continue making himself available to all who will benefit from his message. Law-abiding people should not needlessly live in fear, a condition that weakens all of us.