A palpable fear was already spreading in some local communities before President Donald J. Trump took the oath of office in the Capitol Rotunda on Jan. 20 and decried what he called an “invasion” of migrants into the United States, quickly following up his inaugural address by signing a flurry of executive orders to reshape the country’s immigration policy.
Since Election Day, undocumented residents of Humboldt County and people in mixed-status households have been living with a growing anxiety over what’s to come if Trump attempts to follow through with his campaign promises to oversee the largest mass deportation program the nation has ever seen, at times saying his administration will work to expel everyone living in the United States without the federal government’s permission, an estimated 11 million people, according to a PEW Research Center study in 2022, which included 1.8 million people living in California.
The Humboldt County Civil Rights Commission’s Sanctuary Ordinance Standing Committee met Jan. 16 to discuss the fears circulating among undocumented local residents, and multiple local elected officials took the opportunity to reaffirm their commitment to operating under the sanctuary ordinance local voters passed in 2018. Approved by 55 percent of voters, Measure K explicitly prohibits county employees from assisting or collaborating with federal immigration agencies. State legislation, Senate Bill 54, signed into law the same year, imposed similar policies statewide.
“I will be very, very clear here, I will follow state law … and our county ordinance to a T,” Sheriff William Honsal said at the committee meeting. “That’s my job. And that includes Measure K and Senate Bill 54.”
Humboldt County District Attorney Stacey Eads offered similar assurances in brief remarks at the meeting, while Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson said if the federal government or any other entity sued in an effort to overturn Measure K, the county would defend the ordinance.
It was clear throughout the meeting, however, that officials’ pledges to hold firm to Humboldt’s sanctuary county provisions only go so far in addressing concerns.
One participant in the meeting said while they took some “comfort” that the county would continue to abide by the provisions of Measure K and Senate Bill 54, there was also “a bit of tone deafness to the moment we’re in,” noting that federal “rules may change.”
“It’s not like a wild conspiracy theory to say our community is under threat in new ways,” they said. “The rules could change and they could change quickly, and it could be disastrous for people who live here.”
The new Trump administration wasted little time amplifying that point, as among a host of executive orders the president signed within hours of taking office — which included declaring a national emergency at the southern border, deploying the military to finish the border wall and canceling tens of thousands of scheduled immigration appointments — was one to end birthright citizenship, the 14th Amendment constitutional protection that holds that anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen. (Eighteen states, including California, filed a lawsuit Jan. 21 seeking to block the order.)
Incoming border czar Tom Homan, who has been tapped to lead Trump’s deportation strategy, has said enforcement will take a phased approach, beginning with efforts to target undocumented residents who are “violent criminals” or pose national security threats. Trump seemed to echo this in his inaugural address, saying he would “begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.”
But there appears a deep divide between the rhetoric and what research shows about the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. without permission. According to a study by the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice, only a tiny fraction of undocumented immigrants are arrested for violent crime annually. Specifically, the agency analyzed arrest records in Texas from 2012 through 2018 and found that undocumented residents were arrested for violent crimes at a rate of 96 per 100,000 residents, far less than legal immigrants (185 per 100,000) and U.S. citizens (213 per 100,000). The same study found similar disparities in property and drug crimes, as well.
If those numbers hold nationally, that would mean less than 10,500 of the 11 million undocumented residents in the country have been arrested for violent crimes. Meanwhile, other studies, including a landmark one by the American Immigration Council that relied on comparing data from the FBI crime reporting database and the U.S. Census, have shown that as the immigrant share of the U.S. population has grown since 1980, the rates of both violent and property crime have declined.
So if the focus is really going to be on deporting undocumented criminals, there’s no evidence to suggest there are 100,000, much less “millions and millions” of them. But in the runup to the election, the Trump campaign also repeatedly scapegoated undocumented immigrants for other domestic problems, from housing shortages to stagnated wages and (infamously and entirely without evidence) missing pets.
This kind of anti-immigrant rhetoric mixed with ambiguity as to exactly what is planned adds to the uncertainty and fear facing undocumented residents throughout the country, including Humboldt.
Honsal, for his part, told those attending the committee meeting he does not expect to see large immigration sweeps targeting residents whose only crime is being in the country without permission, at least not locally.
“I honestly believe we are not going to see ICE doing mass deportations in Humboldt County,” he said. “Humboldt County does not have an issue. We do not have an issue here. There are issues in other parts of the state and other parts of the nation where there’s criminal activity that’s taking place with people that are not from our country or don’t have documentation, people that they are going to pursue. I don’t think those people are here in the county. And so I don’t think we are going to see buses pull up and [agents] going door to door. … I don’t think that’s going to take place in our county.”
But if it does, Honsal said he will work to be an advocate for undocumented local residents, interfacing with immigration officials and making sure they are following the law.
“I can go talk to immigration and say, ‘What’s going on? What’s your authority? Let me see the warrant,'” he said.
Throughout the meeting, some expressed concern about the chilling effect fears of a large-scale deportation effort are already having on the local community, saying they may prevent some from seeking care at the hospital or help from police, or even sending their children to local schools. One young person who identified themselves as a Eureka High School student said classmates have voiced the fear that they “could be pulled out of school [by immigration officials] and put in a van without their family being notified.”
Reached by the Journal, Humboldt County Superintendent of Education Michael Davies-Hughes said he understands all the media attention on the prospect of mass deportations can make people feel vulnerable and anxious, but he stressed that local schools are safe places for everyone.
“What I’d say to families that have that fear and anxiety is that school has been and will continue to be a place that regardless of a student’s citizenship, they are welcome, and we will open our arms to them and ensure that every student has an opportunity in our public schools,” Davies-Hughes said.
Davies-Hughes said local school districts don’t keep data on the citizenship or documentation status of their students. They require two things for enrollment: proof of residency (which can be fulfilled with a utility bill, rental contract or sworn declaration by a parent or guardian) and proof of age (which can be fulfilled with a birth certificate, but also a statement from a local registrar or county recorder, a baptism certificate or an affidavit from a parent or guardian). The bottom line, Davies-Hughes said, is that schools don’t know students’ immigration status — or that of members of their family or household — unless they’re told, and even then, state laws prohibit school employees from sharing that information with immigration agencies.
“The reality is there are laws in California that protect families and certainly students from some of these issues,” he said. “We will abide by the law, and we will do everything within the law to make sure our students thrive in an environment that’s safe for everyone.”
A spokesperson for Providence Health similarly stressed that medical providers at St. Joseph and Redwood Memorial hospitals are not interested in a patient’s immigration status, nor do they share their personal information with federal authorities.
“We see healthcare as a fundamental human right, not a privilege,” spokesperson Christian Hill wrote in an email to the Journal. “We serve members of our community without regard to legal or socioeconomic status and believe that everyone deserves quality healthcare. As a mission-driven organization, we have a special focus on those who are most vulnerable and know that immigrants, undocumented or not, face unique challenges. Our medical facilities are currently a sanctuary for all in need of healing, and a safe place where everyone can expect to be treated with compassion and respect. … Enforcement agents do not have access to patient care areas and may not conduct enforcement activity on our campuses. We do not report our patients’ personal information, including legal status, to enforcement authorities.”
During the Human Rights Commission committee meeting, one woman who identified herself as Dulce said she is a mother of four and asked what would happen to her children if she was deported, noting she saw the family separations that occurred under the first Trump administration.
Honsal said when someone is arrested, their children can’t come with them but said county social services would typically take custody of the children until they can be placed with a family member, a “close non-relative” or, if neither are available, into foster care. Centro Del Pueblo Executive Director Brenda Perez, who was serving as an interpreter at the meeting, then interjected that Measure K “clarifies this point,” saying it provides that Dulce would be allowed to sign an order directing her children be left with whomever she chooses.
Repeatedly throughout the meeting, Honsal stressed that his department and local police are not interested in someone’s immigration status, only enforcing state laws and keeping communities safe. He said they never ask for proof of legal residency or citizenship. However, he said when someone is arrested on suspicion of a crime and booked into jail, their fingerprints are taken and sent to several federal agencies, including Homeland Security and ICE.
“If someone has been previously deported or is on an immigration violation, Homeland Security will notify us that person in custody should be held on a detainer for an immigration violation,” Honsal said. “We do not honor that hold. We do not hold anyone beyond what their state charges would keep them in custody for.”
Homan, Trump’s border czar, has said in media interviews that he believes anyone who fails to honor an ICE detainer request is “harboring or concealing illegal aliens,” and therefore committing a crime, saying he planned to ask nominated Attorney General Pam Bondi to review the matter and issue a formal opinion as to whether local agencies that don’t comply with detainer requests are violating federal law. Honsal, for his part, said he doesn’t think Homan’s position is “valid under the law,” adding that if ICE or Homeland Security wants to take custody of someone, those agencies are free to seek an arrest warrant.
As it currently stands, Honsal said the only time the sheriff’s office releases someone to ICE is if they’ve previously been convicted for a serious or violent felony under the definitions of state law. But Honsal said local protections under Measure K are such that if ICE showed up at the jail and asked to speak with an inmate, jail staff would only allow them to if the inmate consented.
Asked about local residents being harassed or victimized by vigilantes, Honsal said he’d hope they’d call 911 so officers could come help them. But he quickly added that holding perpetrators accountable and investigating crimes to the full extent of the law requires the cooperation of the person who has been victimized or harassed.
“We’re going to need that evidence to support the investigation,” he said. “But I understand that is going to take trust. And trust is earned over time.”
Toward the end of the meeting, Perez spoke about her relationship with county officials, noting that she appreciated their attempts at speaking Spanish during the meeting and wants to fully trust them. But she quickly added that when she hears assurances that Measure K or S.B. 54 prohibits them from sharing information or cooperating with immigration authorities, it’s as if the laws are “preventing” them from doing something and she’d like to hear a more affirmative commitment to proactively advocating for and protecting immigrant communities.
“We are integral to this community,” she said, noting that most undocumented residents pay taxes though they don’t receive the full spectrum of services available to citizens. “This is the birthplace of children of our communities. I’d like you to support us with action.”
Thadeus Greenson (he/him) is the Journal’s news editor. Reach him at (707) 442-1400, extension 321, or thad@northcoastjournal.com.
This article appears in Sanctuary in the Storm.