The Orange County Board of Supervisors held its annual public hearing on the Transparent Review of Unjust Transfers and Holds (TRUTH) Act during their meeting on March 25. In line with the act, local leaders presented a report on Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) access to individuals in the county throughout 2024 and heard input from community members.
The TRUTH Act, effective since 2018, aims to “address the lack of transparency and accountability” between federal and local parties regarding immigration law enforcement. It requires local law enforcement to provide individuals in custody for civil immigration violations a written consent form detailing their rights prior to an interview with ICE. The form must state “the purpose of the interview, that it is voluntary and that the individual may decline to be interviewed.”
The act also guarantees that records regarding ICE access are publicly accessible under the California Public Records Act. It further mandates that local governments hold an annual community forum to inform the public about ICE’s access to individuals within the jurisdiction over the past year. These forums are spaces to share data such as the number and demographic characteristics of individuals given ICE access, the date access was provided and the means through which it was granted.
During the hearing, Sheriff-Coroner Don Barnes of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) read cases of individuals arrested, re-arrested and transferred to ICE custody. According to a report by the Harbor Institute with data obtained from OCSD, the department transferred 228 individuals to ICE custody in 2024, bolstering a recent upwards trend. There were 221 individuals transferred in 2023 and 17 in 2022. In 2024, most of the individuals transferred to ICE custody from OCSD were born in Mexico or Vietnam. On the city level, the Westminster, Garden Grove and Santa Ana police departments arrested the most individuals who were then referred to ICE by OCSD.
The Board of Supervisors also heard public comments from community members on public safety and the role of law enforcement in immigration policy.
“Sound research has proven every time that immigration enforcement or the collaboration between local law enforcement and ICE does not make cities safer,” Executive Director Carlos Perea of the Harbor Institute said. “It undermines public safety and also impacts our local economy.”
Other commenters stated concerns of crime rates.
“Public safety should be our top priority. I believe that we should remove all criminal offenders from our communities, and that the sheriff’s department and law enforcement should have every tool available to them to protect innocent people,” Kristen Nicole Valle — Newport Beach, Calif., resident and president of the Orange County Young Republicans — said during the hearing.
A community member representing Resilience Orange County and Orange County Rapid Response Network spoke on the experiences of immigrant groups.
“I call on you to lean in and listen to the pleas of the immigrant community here in Orange County,” they said. “The fear is palpable, the anxiety is piercing and hope is dimming.”
Following public comments, Barnes stated that the department will not act for federal authorities on immigration policy, saying that “we have no desire to enforce immigration law — we never have, and we never will.” In a January 2025 statement, Barnes stated that the OCSD “does not enforce federal immigration law.”
“We never ask the immigration status of suspects, witnesses or those who report crime. We have not and will not participate in any local operations of enforcement actions by federal authorities enforcing immigration law,” Barnes said at the hearing.
Barnes also called for the repeal of California SB 54, also known as the California Values Act or the state’s sanctuary law, which prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from using resources to investigate or arrest individuals for “immigration enforcement purposes.” However, they may cooperate with ICE if an individual has been convicted of a serious or violent felony, and in such cases, transfers to ICE custody may be permitted upon request.
According to Barnes, “barriers to communication” between local law enforcement and ICE due to SB 54 may lead ICE to “go into the communities” to find and arrest criminal offenders.
“If they did that, they would take other people who are undocumented with them,” Barnes said. “We must have the ability to communicate on sure threats and the removal of criminal offenders who prey upon our community, often within the immigrant communities in which they reside.”
The hearing concluded with Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento stating that the Board of Supervisors does not have “policy oversight over the sheriff.” While the sheriff has certain discretions in cooperating with federal immigration enforcement, he and local law enforcement will not be able to target immigrant communities for immigration enforcement.
Noosha Taghdiri is a News Staff Writer. She can be reached at taghdirn@uci.edu.