SR rally targets immigration enforcement

Immigrant rights and minority groups Saturday called on Sonoma County sheriff's deputies to stop cooperating with agents who enforce federal immigration law.

Young Latinos are being unfairly deported because deputies on a multiagency gang prevention team work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, said Davin Cardenas of the Committee for Immigrant Rights of Sonoma County.

"Crime, in general, runs the risk of not being reported when you do not know if law enforcement is collaborating with immigration services," Cardenas said before Saturday's rally at Juilliard Park in Santa Rosa. "We don't think our community should be targeted when they're living productive lives, working and going to school."

At the rally, immigrant rights activists were joined by Ben Terry, president of the Sonoma County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter. He and the Rev. Ramón Pons of St. Rose Church in Santa Rosa urged that Sonoma County become a "community of refuge" for illegal immigrants.

Organizers dubbed the event ICEcapades, and in a symbolic act, froze a number of small dolls in blocks of ice that melted throughout the day in the warm afternoon sun.

The long-running debate over whether local law enforcement officials should cooperate with federal immigration officers, amplified by renewed efforts to crack down on gang violence, has echoed through city and county government chambers this month.

A coalition of civil rights, minority and religious groups is calling for change, while Sheriff Bill Cogbill and other law enforcement leaders defend their limited partnerships with federal agents.

"If a person is here illegally and we believe they're furthering illegal gang activity through violence and intimidation and other things, if there's a method to remove those people from our county . . . and working with ICE is that tool, then why wouldn't we take advantage of it?" Cogbill said last week.

Deputies are prohibited under Sheriff's Department policy from conducting sweeps or other concentrated efforts to detain suspected undocumented immigrants. They also are barred from contacting, detaining or arresting someone solely because they suspect a person is undocumented.

Cogbill said his staff works with federal immigration authorities in two circumstances:

When people accused of a crime are booked into Sonoma County Jail, federal agents check their immigration status and place a "hold" on those who are here illegally.

If certified gang members are found to be in the country illegally, "we assist (ICE) in identifying them and . . . in picking those people up," Cogbill said.

But organizers of Saturday's event -- who want Sonoma County to adopt law enforcement policies similar to those of "sanctuary" cities such as Oakland and San Francisco -- say local authorities often overreach.

"Simply being in the United States without documents is not a criminal act. It's a civil violation of the Immigration Act," Santa Rosa immigration lawyer Richard Coshnear said. "Their suspicion is so broad that it's catching up with people who are not involved in gang activity."

One such case, according to Coshnear, involves his 20-year-old client Francisco, who provided only his first name and denied any gang ties. The Santa Rosa Junior College student was jailed in September after a traffic stop in which he said a sheriff's deputy with MAGNET, the multiagency gang enforcement team, searched him and his wallet.

Francisco, who was on probation for driving without a license, was a passenger in his friend's car when the search occurred near West Ninth Street.

"We don't know why the detention happened," Coshnear said during a recent interview with Francisco at his law office. "We're . . . trying to uphold the right of people to be free from unreasonable seizures."

Cogbill said that if citizens present him with alleged policy and civil rights violations, "I'm going to look into it," noting that he is confident deputies are acting within departmental limits.

He suggested organizers of Saturday's rally concentrate instead on immigration overhaul -- helping undocumented workers obtain work visas, pay taxes and drive legally.

"Shouldn't you be putting your energy into changing the law, not asking law enforcement to ignore certain laws?" the sheriff said.

News Researcher Michele Van Hoeck contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Writer Katy Hillenmeyer at 521-5274 or katy.hillenmeyer@pressdemocrat.com.