At Kern County’s annual TRUTH Act Community Forum on Tuesday morning, community members urged county leaders to do more to protect immigrant families, highlighting how federal immigration enforcement creates fear and distrust across Kern’s majority Latino population.
Gonzalo Santos, a Cal State Bakersfield professor and longtime immigrant rights advocate, praised the sheriff’s office for declining to cooperate with recent ICE raids.
“What a contrast,” Santos said. “In Florida, sheriffs drag people away from their children with real cruelty. But when ICE came here in January, the sheriff’s office did not participate. And for that, I want to say thank you.”
Santos added that the county’s compliance with California’s Trust Act was not voluntary, but the result of years of community pressure.
“The reason that our sheriff’s office and other sheriff’s offices around the state have behaved more or less is because we passed the Trust Act, against the wishes of this board,” he said, calling on supervisors who once opposed the measure to acknowledge their past votes.
He also warned that anti-immigrant rhetoric fuels broader attacks on Latino communities, connecting current enforcement to a history of racism.
“There is a confusion going on as to when the onslaught of assaults on immigrant families ends, and when the onslaught of assaults on Latino American families begins,” Santos said. “I’m not confused. Xenophobia and racism have a long history of being intertwined.”
Santos closed by urging the Board to take a stronger stance against detention centers in Kern County. He described facilities in McFarland, Bakersfield, and the proposed reopening of a prison in California City as part of an “American gulag” where private corporations profit from incarceration.
“Do something,” he told supervisors. “Pass resolutions saying enough. Our community deserves protection. Shut those damn things down.”
While law enforcement officials presented data showing limited cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), most speakers emphasized the need for stronger local protections and accountability.
Frank Herrera, Probation Division Director, said the probation department received just one ICE request for information in 2024, but no information was released.
Chief Deputy Joel Swanson from the Kern County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) also outlined the department’s policies and practices related to ICE access. He stressed that deputies do not inquire about immigration status, hold individuals past their release date, or delay releases for ICE. Instead, KCSO’s cooperation is restricted to cases where individuals have qualifying convictions under state law.
“In 2024, a total of 28,361 individuals were booked in county jails,” a KCSO representative reported. “ICE submitted 19 requests for notification of release, two of which resulted in transfers to ICE custody.” Those transfers accounted for about 0.2% of incarcerated individuals subject to notification requests.
Officials added that ICE did not request to interview any individuals in custody last year, a process that would have triggered additional notification and consent requirements under the TRUTH Act.
Following the sheriff’s office presentation, Mayra Joachin, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), emphasized the laws’ intent to build trust between immigrant communities and local agencies. She noted that collaboration with federal immigration enforcement can erode that trust and make people less likely to report crimes or seek help from law enforcement.
Joachin also highlighted recent changes to the sheriff’s policy following ACLU recommendations, including clarifying that transfers to ICE are based on convictions, not charges, and ensuring that probable cause is not used to justify detaining individuals for immigration purposes. While acknowledging the limited number of transfers, she underscored that even discretionary cooperation with ICE has consequences for community safety.
“Our immigrant communities are essential to Kern County, and any hours spent assisting immigration enforcement is, in our opinion, a misuse of local resources,” Joachin said. She urged county leaders to establish an immigration legal defense fund and invest in services that help residents feel safe reporting crimes and accessing justice.
During the public comment period, only two residents spoke in opposition, calling for stricter enforcement and more cooperation with ICE. One argued that undocumented immigrants should not receive exceptions that citizens cannot, while another said undocumented residents place a strain on public resources and should follow formal legal processes to live and work in the country.
The overwhelming majority of speakers, however, voiced strong support for Kern’s immigrant communities.
Janine Adams, who identified herself as an immigrant and longtime Kern County resident, urged supervisors to scrutinize private prison operations in California City, where detention facilities could reopen for immigration enforcement. “They cannot just randomly reopen a prison that’s closed without public input,” Adams said, calling it “crazy” to incarcerate individuals whose only violation is entering the country without authorization.
Other speakers echoed similar concerns. One resident compared ICE operations to an “occupying force” and warned that even minimal cooperation erodes public trust, while others emphasized that immigrant families are central to Kern’s economy and community life.
Rosa Lopez, a longtime Kern County resident, policy advocate with the ACLU, and first-generation immigrant from Oaxaca, Mexico, called on the Board to strengthen protections beyond what state law requires.
“What we’re saying is that this is the floor. We can do better, and we should do better,” Lopez said. She argued that enforcement practices disproportionately harm people of color regardless of status, and urged county leaders to represent the realities of Kern’s majority Latino population.
“It’s enough to just hide behind the statement that this is a federal issue,” Lopez said. “This does impact us, and you, as our representatives, can do better.”
