NEWS RELEASE
SAN MATEO COUNTY COALITION FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS
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The San Mateo County Coalition for Immigrant Rights (SMCCIR), San Mateo County residents, and local advocates will gather virtually for San Mateo County’s TRUTH Act Forum on November 3 at 6 pm to denounce the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office for voluntarily transferring 119 immigrant community members to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody during the last three years. This includes at least 26 people that Sheriff Bolanos handed to ICE through the county jail during the pandemic. In 2020, even while jail count numbers were relatively low due to the COVID-19 pandemic, San Mateo County accounted for 74% of the total number of people transferred to ICE for all nine Bay Area counties. A jail-to-ICE transfer occurs when immigrants and refugees are deemed eligible for release from the county jail but are then handed to ICE for detention and deportation by the Sheriff’s office. The California TRUTH Act requires a local legislative body to hold a community forum annually if local law enforcement allows ICE access to any individual the prior year. The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, Asian Law Caucus, the private defender panel, and an impacted person will be presenting at the forum. The rally preceding the forum will feature visuals of the missing seats at the dinner table created by devastating ICE transfers and remarks by impacted community members.
Rally (In person) Wednesday, November 3 from 5 PM to 5:30 PM
Forum (Virtual) Wednesday, November 3 from 6 PM to 9 PM
The rally will be held at 400 County Center, Redwood City. The TRUTH Act Forum may be accessed through Zoom online at https://smcgov.zoom.us/j/97496202723. The meeting ID is: 974 9620 2723 or via telephone by dialing +1-669-900-6833 (Local). Enter the meeting ID: 974 9620 2723, then press #.
Immigrants should not be punished twice just based on where they are born. ICE transfers break families apart and could be a death sentence. Like any other San Mateo County resident, immigrants who’ve completed their time in county jail should have the opportunity to rebuild their lives and reunite with loved ones. The Sheriff’s collaboration with ICE wastes valuable county resources and upholds a racist policy that discriminates against our immigrant neighbors.
About 70% of people incarcerated in immigration detention centers are transferred to ICE custody directly upon release from prison or jail. For years, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office has cozied up to ICE by transferring immigrants who are eligible to be released from jail into ICE custody, instead of allowing them to return to their families and communities.
The forum comes as California legislators prepare to vote again on the VISION Act (AB 937), which would stop all ICE transfers in the state and is supported by a majority of California voters. At least eight counties in California have already ended the unjust practice of transferring immigrant community members to ICE. In addition, San Mateo County’s neighbors in San Francisco and Santa Clara County have some of the strongest policies of non-cooperation with ICE in the state. In the heart of Silicon Valley, San Mateo County prides itself as the seat of innovation, yet the County falls behind when it comes to racial justice issues, including for its immigrant residents. San Mateo County must also move toward a more humane policy that protects all County residents, or it will be left behind.
Advocates across the county will attend the virtual TRUTH Act Forum to demand that the Sheriff’s Office stop ICE notifications and transfers that tear communities and families apart.
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