Justice Division requests lists of undocumented immigrants in LA County jails
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna stated the U.S. Division of Justice is concentrating on him after the federal authorities requested a listing of incarcerated undocumented immigrants.
Throughout a information convention on Thursday, Luna stated the federal authorities has threatened to cost him if his company doesn’t cooperate.
“I’ve personally obtained, I’ll name it, threatening letters from the federal authorities to guarantee that we’re cooperating with them, doing civil immigration enforcement,” Luna stated. “A variety of them say, should you do not, there’s going to be penalties as much as the purpose of you being charged federally.”
The Justice Division stated they’ve despatched requests to sheriff’s departments throughout California asking “for lists of all inmates of their jails who should not residents of the US, their crimes of arrest or conviction, and their scheduled launch dates.”
Luna stated he hasn’t seen the request. He added that even when he did, the Sheriff’s Division would not be capable of assist the DOJ.
“We do not ask for immigration standing,” Luna stated. “I do not know the way we will present a listing to anyone, whether or not it is the fed or anyone else.”
Sanctuary legal guidelines in California and Los Angeles additionally bar native regulation enforcement from sharing info with immigration brokers until the federal authorities has a warrant. Luna stated federal brokers secured warrants for 20 incarcerated folks this 12 months, however the Trump administration is requesting extra information with out warrants.
“At the least for this 12 months, there’s 435 people who they’ve requested for in 2025,” Luna stated. “We’ve got not fulfilled any of them due to state regulation.”
Republicans stated California’s sanctuary legal guidelines are hurting public security.
“You are not allowed to speak to ICE. You are not allowed to coordinate,” Rep. Kevin Kiley stated. “You are not allowed to coordinate. You are not allowed to honor a detainer request. So, what occurs is that these people get launched again out into the neighborhood.”
Luna emphasised that his division is just not conducting immigration enforcement.
“We can not do our jobs with out public belief in our neighborhood,” Luna stated.
The Trump administration has granted Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers entry to the non-public info of 75 million Medicaid recipients, enabling the federal authorities to confirm the citizenship standing of all people. The database additionally has house addresses. Gov. Gavin Newsom stated he’ll battle towards any try to entry info on these enrolled in MediCal, which is paid for with state income.
