The two agreed on Friday’s concert, starring Mexican norteño musician Ramon Ayala, also known as “The King of the Accordion.”Įssick’s public gesture reflects an evolution for the Sheriff’s Office, where deputies’ collaboration with ICE has narrowed significantly within the past decade amid internal policy shifts, changes to state law and legal cases that clarified the role local law enforcement officers can play in immigration enforcement and detention, activists said. “It gave me pause, to say ‘Shoot, maybe we didn’t do as good as a job as we thought we did.” “Here’s this guy that’s really well connected, and he’s saying, ‘I haven’t heard anything,’” Essick said of the meeting. Greg Sarris, the tribal chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, invited Essick to speak at the casino after a meeting between the two men in March revealed the office could do a better job informing the public about how deputies cooperate with ICE, Essick said.

“We’re not going to pull out a ?notebook and start asking them their immigration status,” said Essick, a department veteran nearing his eighth month in office after winning election last year. The message reflects Sheriff’s Office’s policy since at least 2017 and state law that limits how California police agencies cooperate with federal immigration authorities. “We want people in Latino communities to not be afraid to report things to police,” Essick said in an interview early Friday.

His deputies will not help conduct ICE raids in the county either. People found to be driving uninsured or without a license, stopped by his deputies for minor traffic infractions, or arrested for other petty crimes will also not be reported to federal agents. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents of victims who go to the Sheriff’s Office to report a crime. That was the message of reassurance Friday night from Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick at the Graton Resort & Casino, where several thousand Latino residents gathered for the casino’s monthly Latin dance night.Įssick, who made his planned appearance on stage at about 10 p.m., said he wanted to make it clear to the crowd that his deputies will not ask anyone about their immigration status, nor alert U.S.

Sonoma County deputies will not report undocumented immigrants to federal immigration agents for minor offenses or alerting authorities of a crime.

Concerts at graton casino