photo credit: Shandra Back
Protesters hold signs outside the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.

At a press conference outside the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office this week, immigrant‑rights advocates criticized what they describe as a pattern of poor transparency bolstered calls for the sheriff to end all cooperation with federal immigration authorities. 

Immigrant‑rights activist Linda Evans filed a complaint last May with IOLERO, the voter-created watchdog group keeping close tabs on the county sheriff's office.

Evans' complaint focuses on a man she calls Victor, who was arrested by ICE inside the lobby of the county’s probation department.

Victor had just been released from the county jail and, following instructions from his probation officer, went directly to the probation office. That’s where ICE detained him.

Months later, in October, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office sent Evans a letter saying it had found no policy violations, and she believed the case was closed. In March, however, she received a second letter stating the complaint was sustained, confirming that staff had violated policy by sharing information with federal immigration officials.

"It is unacceptable that sheriff's deputies violated policies to disclose information leading to an arrest by ICE," said Evans at the Monday press conference. 

"How do we prevent these detentions straight from the jail when our deputies won't even would be truthful about what happened," said Evans. "When the sheriff lies about how much information he's providing to ICE."

This is not the first time this year the sheriff’s office has been pressed by community advocates and IOLERO. A state appellate court ruled last month the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office has to follow subpoenas sent to deputies in a whistleblower investigation. The ruling comes two years after IOLERO initially sued the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office for refusing to turn over records.

Advocates say these incidents highlight why they want greater transparency and a complete end to ICE collaboration.

"I'm asking you from my heart. please stop the sheriff from cooperating and collaborating with ICE with no judicial warrant," said Ron Zucker speaking to the board of supervisors.

Sonoma County Sheriff Eddie Engram says his immigration‑related policies already go beyond what state law requires, and he told KRCB News he plans to tighten them further by removing “wobblers” — offenses that can be charged as either misdemeanors or felonies — from the list of cases where information may be shared with federal immigration authorities. He expects the change to take effect within the next month.

On May 12th, the county will hold its annual TRUTH Act Forum, where the sheriff must publicly disclose all interactions with federal immigration authorities over the past year and answer questions from both the board of supervisors and the public.

Advocates say they’ll be showing up to confront the sheriff on what they call an unacceptable lack of transparency and to call again for a full stop on ICE collaboration.