In a Merced Sun-Star interview (Oct. 1) following his brief presentation (on Sept. 9) to the Merced County Board of Supervisors, Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke dismissed the California Values Act and the TRUTH Act as, “a waste of taxpayer money.” That is wrong, and as concerned residents, we think it vital that the public be accurately informed as to the meaning of these laws and why these laws are important for our community.
Both laws were enacted to ensure that all Californians, regardless of immigration status, can live free from fear of arrest and/or deportation for engaging with public institutions. These laws reflect a simple truth: safety depends on trust.
In 2017, California enacted the California Values Act, also known as SB 54, and the Transparent Review of Unjust Transfers and Holds (TRUTH) Act to guard the relationship of trust between immigrant Californians and state and local agencies. SB 54 presents a values-based reasoning for limiting state and local law enforcement agencies from using California taxpayer money to assist federal immigration enforcement agencies. The TRUTH Act is about transparency, requiring local law enforcement to notify a detained person regarding any ICE holds and provide know-your-rights information, and informing the public of any collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Together, these laws help ensure that our immigrant neighbors can seek health services, attend school, or interact with law enforcement without worrying that these agencies may assist ICE.
During the Sun-Star interview, Warnke suggested, without evidence, that these California laws make crime worse and our community less safe. Yet multiple studies, including one from 2020 published by the National Academy of Sciences, have shown no link between sanctuary policies and increased crime rates.
Sheriff Warnke even suggested that if he could cooperate with ICE, they would not “come into the community, start snatching people up.” But the law does allow the sheriff and his agencies to cooperate with ICE in more serious cases. If our sheriff starts cooperating with ICE for every contact or detention, as he indicates he would like to do, he will break a relationship of trust between his department and the community. When families fear calling 911, when parents are afraid to pick up their children from school, and when victims hesitate to report abuse, we all are less safe.
Federal immigration enforcement is not about arresting the worst criminals. Despite what we were told, we can see for ourselves that in many communities around California and the nation ICE and CBP (Customs and Border Protection) are stopping people based on the color of their skin; they are targeted not for crimes, but for the types of difficult jobs they often work, then deported without due process. There is no safe space since hospitals, clinics, and places of worship are also targets.
Furthermore, being undocumented is only a civil infraction; and 70% of those arrested this year are here legally and some are even US citizens. Immigrants commit fewer crimes than people born and raised here. But hard-working immigrants are easy to find and snatch while picking up their kids at our local schools, or while tending to our crops, or while they cook our meals.
Arresting and removing people who are essential to their communities is not a way to eliminate crime. At what cost, nationally, are federal agents and resources being diverted from other community safety priorities? What is the cost of constant raids on workers? What we are seeing play out across this country is not a coherent immigration policy. This is not how this great nation, filled with so many immigrants and their descendants, should be dealing with immigration.
And we believe that Merced County’s limited resources should not be used to support these efforts. As in many other societies that have scapegoated and persecuted a vulnerable population, Americans may come to regret the damage being done to this country, to the immigrant community, and the self-harm that being caught up in such madness can cause. We do not want Merced County, its Sheriff’s Department, or other agencies to contribute to these harms.
In the long term, the nation needs immigration policy that includes funding for enough immigration judges for refugee asylum cases, a policy with better ways for workers to come here to work, and clear pathways to citizenship. We need a policy that does not require a militarized force snatching people from their workplaces, from schools while picking up their kids, or from courthouses when they check-in as part of their immigration requirements.
Until that day, we are grateful that we have the California Values Act and the TRUTH Act.
Scott Lennox, Maria Elena Young, Gloria Meneses-Sandoval and Marilyn Sobel are members of a group called ‘Mercedians United for Action.’