The Kern County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) presented updates on when they have worked with or assisted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during the Truth Act Forum. Following the presentation, Mayra Joachin, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, gave a presentation and listed several community asks, including for the county to cease any collaboration with ICE.
According to Joe Swanson, Chief Deputy with the Detention Bureau presented the updates from KCSO and stated that in 2025, 273 requests were made by ICE for transfers; 246 were valid requests after taking out duplicates and any that were unable to be processed, 31 individuals were transferred to ICE, accounting for 11.36% of requests resulting in transfers. This is an increase from 2024, when 10.53% of those requested were transferred to ICE.
Out of the 246 requests from ICE, 226 of them were for Hispanic individuals, 232 were male, the average age was 37, and the median time spent in jail was 70 days.
Joachin noted during her presentation that in 2025, when those requests were made, ICE was also traveling into Kern County to stop and arrest farmworkers. She continued to discuss both the California Values Act and the Trust Act. While the act permits collaboration with ICE, both of them seek to address the lack of trust and transparency. Joachin stated that the California Values Act recognizes that trust is threatened when there is collaboration with ICE and that the Trust Act honors that counties have discretion on how they interact with ICE and there is no law forcing them to collaborate.
To relay the importance of trusting law enforcement agencies, Joachin reminded the board of supervisors that there are many immigrants in the community or those with immigrant family members.
“So why does this matter here?” said Joachin. “Board members, as a reminder, this county is a county of immigrants, and 20% of the residents for whom you’re all representing are immigrants within this county. More than 50% of current county residents have an immigrant family member, and 43% of the children here have at least one immigrant parent. Additionally, the community is safer when there is trust between all Kern County residents and the county’s law enforcement agencies.”
In response to some of the data Swanson provided, Jachion stated that for those transferred after completing their sentence, justice was already served, and for those transferred at the median time of 70 days, that is not even enough time for them to be convicted. Regarding the average age of 37, she noted that’s her age and the problem of them being uprooted.
“It’s people like me who immigration agents are contacting, asking to uproot them from the community,” said Joachin. “So I ask you, the board, Kern County Sheriff’s Office, to not only establish a practice where you’re not issuing police notifications to immigration agents, but at the very least to exercise your discretion so that you’re not collaborating with immigration categorically simply because there’s a qualifying conviction. The law gives you discretion to decide when you’re going to collaborate. This is an instance where there shouldn’t be any collaboration because this county should not be contributing to the current deportation scheme that’s in place, and we shouldn’t be sending Kern County residents to facilities with deplorable conditions.”
During the public comment section, several community members echoed Joachin’s request. Alejandra Garcia with Building Healthy Communities spoke about the fear within the community and how it keeps some from reporting crimes or seeking medical attention.
“It creates a deep fear of local government. We see families who are afraid to report crimes, afraid to go to the hospitals, afraid to enroll their kids in basic programs. We ask that we stop this collaboration between local law enforcement and ICE because public safety only works when everyone in the community feels safe calling for help,” said Garcia.
Ana Alicia Huerta, an immigration attorney and representative with the Rapid Response Network of Kern, spoke about individuals being transferred before a conviction and said it undermines justice and accountability.
“There are instances where these notifications and transfers are taking place where there are still open charges,” said Huerta. “This means an individual has not received a conviction before being transferred to immigration custody. This process circumvents due process rights for accused individuals and cuts out any hope of justice and accountability for impacted families. As these individuals will be transferred to immigration custody before being prosecuted in our local courts. And as was brought up earlier, if you believe in our criminal justice system at all, we are completely overriding it.”
After the meeting, Joachin stated she hopes community members will recognize the value of everyone living in Kern no matter where they were born.
“From today, we think it’s important that community members recognize how valuable everyone is within this county, regardless of their status or place of birth,” said Joachin. “There are several laws in California that are intended to bring value to each community member and reduce any instances of collaboration between the county and immigration agents, but it is up to us to make sure that we live up to those values, and that the way in which Kern County operates is not contributing funds or resources to immigration enforcement.”
