City Government

Community Demands Alameda County Cut Ties with Immigrant Deportation Agency

Published

10 years ago

September 17, 2016

Immigrant rights activists introduced a resolution to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors Tuesday morning, demanding that the county uphold due process for immigrants and undocumented residents who are arrested and sent to county jail.

The resolution, which is largely symbolic, puts pressure on Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern to stop cooperating with Immigrant Customs Enforcement (ICE) through a national program called the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP), which has played a large role in mass deportations.

Under the present system, PEP allows local law enforcement to notify ICE when and where people who match immigration databases are released from jail so that they can be picked up and sent to deportation proceedings before their guilt has been proven in court.

According to immigrant rights groups, this is a violation of a person’s right to due process.

“Somebody could be arrested for something minor or major and because they have a misdemeanor from several years ago will get turned over to ICE through PEP notification,” said Laura Polstein, an immigration staff attorney at Centro Legal de la Raza.

Alameda County United in Defense of Immigrant Rights (ACUDIR), a coalition of immigrant rights organizations, worked alongside Supervisor Richard Valle to get the resolution pushed through the Public Protection Committee to the full board.

Groups that make up ACUDIR include Causa Justa: Just Cause, Centro Legal de la Raza, Black Alliance for Just Immigration and East Bay Alliance for Sustainable Economy (EBASE).

San Francisco legally distanced itself from PEP earlier this year after its Board of Supervisors passed the Upholding Due Process law prohibiting the city from providing information to ICE about its detainees.

Now, immigrant rights groups are pushing for Alameda County to follow suit so that communities can feel safer and people’s rights can be upheld.

“I believe the resolution is a great step in reminding our community that it is a critical moment to stand together for the rights of all of our community members,” said Supervisor Valle in a statement to the Post.

“The work we doing are is a reminder to the people in Alameda County that immigrants, irrespective of status, deserve a right to be treated with dignity and respect,” he said.

Community advocates have also criticized PEP for straining the relationship between immigrant communities and local law enforcement since it is seen as the primary gateway to deportation proceedings.

Because of the structure of the county, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors’ resolution is not a law that would be binding but would express what many feel are the county’s values around this issue.

According to Polstein of Centro Legal, it will ultimately be up to Sheriff Ahern to cut ties with ICE.

“We think he will do the right thing eventually,” said Polstein. “He’s an elected official and his actions need to reflect the desires of the community.”

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Related Topics:ACUDIR Alameda County Board of Supervisors deportation detention due process ICE immigrant rights PEP

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Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

Published

15 hours ago

July 5, 2026

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Inaugural Juneteenth Awards Ceremony Celebrates the Fillmore’s Black History, Leadership and Resilience

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

Published

1 week ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, Pastor Emeritus of Third Baptist Church, SF Mayor Daniel Lurie. Photo by Linda Parker Pennington.

By Linda Parker Pennington

The Fillmore Community Ambassadors held its first annual Juneteenth Wesley Johnson White Horse Awards ceremony on June 19 inside the newly reopened Fillmore Heritage Center.

The event featured awards for former San Francisco mayors London Breed and Willie Brown, along with Third Baptist Church Pastor Emeritus, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown.

The Koret Heritage lobby at the newly reopened center at 1330 Fillmore St. held a standing-room-only, culturally diverse and multi-generational audience while the art gallery featured photos of Fillmore community members in action, red Japanese lanterns, art and calligraphy, and Chinese artwork, giving the space a multicultural feel.

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood acknowledged that “the Fillmore community has had a difficult history. Thanks to Rev. Amos Brown’s continuous focus on accountability and resistance, you hold us accountable and continue to inspire us.”

Mahmoud is referring to the Fillmore’s Japanese residents who were forced from their homes and sent to concentration camps during World War II. Black people occupied those homes until the return of their Japanese neighbors and then gave them back, while homes that had been unoccupied were lost. The presence of the Asian community on Juneteenth is a testament to that shared history.

In receiving his honor, Amos Brown elicited a powerful spontaneous call-and-response, where members of San Francisco’s many Black churches proudly shouted out the names: “Bethel AME! Providence Baptist! Jones Memorial! Glide!”

Awards program Master of Ceremonies Shawn Richards of Brothers Against Guns warmly introduced Breed, highlighting her many accomplishments, particularly on “March 16, 2020, when she became the first mayor to shut down a major U.S. city due to COVID-19, saving thousands of lives.”

The audience was captivated by Breed’s emotional speech touching on past traumas, present conditions, and future hopes for the neighborhood where she grew up.

She recalled another trauma of the neighborhood during the City’s redevelopment era in the 1960s, where Black residents were forced to move with a promise of being able to return that was largely unfulfilled.

“We remember when this land was just a field because they bulldozed hundreds of Victorian homes that Black people owned. They built the Fillmore Center, where most Black people can’t afford to live or start their own business. But we are still here.”