Overview: The Riverside County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution to evaluate how data is collected, stored, and protected in relation to undocumented immigrants and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program. The resolution requires county employees to identify existing funding sources that can be used to assist law-abiding immigrants who may get caught up in deportation proceedings and directs its staff to report back to the board in February regarding how agencies are collecting data on immigrants in the region. This comes as part of President Donald J. Trump’s aggressive crackdown on immigration, which includes mass deportation and the possible housing of those caught up in deportation efforts at Guantanamo Bay.
Ellen Perrault
Tensions were high at the Riverside County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday over a resolution to evaluate how data is collected, stored and protected in relation to undocumented immigrants and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program.
Eddie Torres who spoke on behalf of the Inland Coalition for Immigration Justice stated his support for the resolution identified in the agenda as Item 3.35. “Passing Item 3.35 is an important step toward not only providing protection for DACA recipients but all immigrants,” he stressed.
The meeting room was filled with nearly 70 community members in attendance and many others expressed their sentiments about the resolution via telephone.
It appeared many who spoke, like Torres, supported the resolution while others adamantly opposed it, some even claiming it positioned Riverside as a sanctuary county. Fourth District Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, who authored the resolution with Fifth District Supervisor Yxstian Gutierrez, refuted this. “There is no language referring to being a sanctuary county,” he declared. “That’s you making it all up,” he retorted in response to one opposing speaker.
The resolution requires county employees to identify existing funding sources that can be used to assist law-abiding immigrants who may get caught up in deportation proceedings. It will also fund the establishment of a a website that will be designed to included all immigration-related resources that will be readily accessible to members of the public as a way to help combat misinformation. .
The supervisors approved the resolution by a 4-0 vote and directed its staff to report back to the board in February regarding how agencies are collecting data on immigrants in the region.
The threat of mass deportation
As promised during his campaign, when President Donald J. Trump took office just a few short days ago, on January 20, he began an aggressive crackdown on immigration and launched aggressive deportation efforts. Although he initially led voters to believe the focus of his administration would be on criminals who had entered the country without proper documents, his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, recently clarified that anyone who enters the country without authorization has broken the law and may be swept up in this mass deportation effort.
This week we also learned of the administration’s plans to house many of those caught up in the deportation efforts, at Guantanamo Bay.
The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is not only a military base, it is also where the U.S. military prison is located and terrorism suspects have been housed for more than 20 years. According to some reports, it has also housed Haitians immigrant sand Cubans over the years.
Trump announced his plans for Guantanamo Bay earlier this week when he signed the Laken Riley Act, which calls for ”the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to detain certain non-U.S. nationals (aliens under federal law) who have been arrested for burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting.” The bill also authorizes states to sue the federal government for decisions or alleged failures related to immigration enforcement. The Laken-Riley Act was recently passed by Congress with the support of some Democrats.
In addition to the increasing deportation raids, Trump has also issued an executive order to end birthright citizenship despite not having authority to arbitrarily change the U.S. Constitution that authorizes this birthright under the 14th Amendment.