photo credit: Shandra Back
Protesters outside the Sonoma County Jail on October 30, 2025.

A couple hundred protesters stand outside the Sonoma County Jail holding signs that read “non-collaboration ordinance now. ICE OUT of Sonoma County.”

By “non-collaboration ordinance,” protesters mean they want a sanctuary ordinance that explicitly prohibits local law enforcement from collaborating with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The protest was organized by the Sanctuary Coalition of Sonoma County. Renee Saucedo is its founder.

"This is particularly important to the migrant communities because right now they're so terrorized," said Saucedo. 

Saucedo said she is aware of the “California Values Act,” which state legislators passed in 2017.

It classifies California as a sanctuary state and provides clear guidelines for when local law enforcement can – and can’t – cooperate with ICE.

But Saucedo doesn’t think the state law goes far enough because it allows local enforcement to cooperate with ICE under certain circumstances.

The Sanctuary Coalition believes there should be no contact … full stop.

"It will keep our tax money from going to the deportation process," said Saucedo.

Daniela Itzel Vargas Medina is a high school student and activist in Sonoma County. Like many in her community, Medina says she lives in fear that her mom might not come home.

Medina said she understands a sanctuary ordinance won’t protect people from being deported, but it will give them confidence that law enforcement and county officials are supporting them. 

Protester leaders note that the majority of counties and cities in California have passed some sort of sanctuary ordinance but ask: why isn’t Sonoma County one of them? 

"Saying that we are a sanctuary county will undoubtedly bring additional attention to us that we should not be calling for," said Rebecca Hermosillo, the first Latina supervisor to be elected to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. She comes from a mixed status family and grew up in Sonoma County as part of the immigrant community.

Hermosillo said it's a small but vocal subset of the community that’s fighting for sanctuary status. She said her office has fielded concerns from undocumented immigrants who believe the Trump Administration will target Sonoma if it becomes a sanctuary county. 

She pointed out, San Francisco is a sanctuary city and they were still targeted.

"This is probably the first of the wave, and there's going to be more," Hermosillo said.

Hermosillo also said even without a sanctuary ordinance, the county board of supervisors is supporting the undocumented community and getting prepared for immigration raids. Among the preparations, the county has allocated $500,000 to nonprofits supporting immigrants. And they’re making plans on how to support children whose parents are deported. 

"ICE will come here," Hermosillo said. "We cannot stop them, but we can ensure that we're doing everything we can to better prepare people."

What’s more, Hermosillo said, even if the county board of supervisors passes a sanctuary ordinance, the sheriff is under no legal obligation to honor it.

Back at the county jail, protesters aren’t buying the supervisors' position. On stage, they are performing a skit about a board of supervisors meeting. Someone playing a resident asks for a sanctuary ordinance, while the people playing the supervisors are filing nails and rolling their eyes. Someone calls, "out with those supervisors!"

Renee Saucedo, the leader of the Sanctuary Coalition, said they understand passing an ordinance won’t solve all of their problems, and they know it won’t keep ICE out.

"However, it will send a clear message to immigrant communities that the county stands with them," Saucedo said, adding that by becoming a sanctuary county, the board of supervisors will build trust with the immigrant communities.