The Del Norte County sheriff says a Facebook rumor stating that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is in the community may have been started because of a sex offender sweep his deputies conducted Wednesday.
Sheriff Garrett Scott said his department and others, including Del Norte County probation, conducted a pre-planned sweep of the sex offenders who are supposed to be registered under California Penal Code 290.
There are about 100 registered sex offenders living in Del Norte County and the sheriff’s office regularly puts a team of law enforcement officers together to ensure they’re complying with the law, Scott said.
“That (sweep) took place this morning,” he told Redwood Voice Community News. “It’s likely that someone saw them and made an assumption they were ICE. I have no indicators that ICE is anywhere near Del Norte County.”
Posted to the Crescent City Chit Chat Group at about noon Wednesday, the Facebook post reads “ICE IS HERE, they were at the liquor store this morning and just seen removing people out of the trailer park. #iceout.”
Later Wednesday, the sheriff said that while ICE, a federal agency, does have the authority to make arrests and doesn’t have to notify his office that they are in the community, he doesn’t anticipate any kind of a raid.
If he does find out ICE is in Del Norte County, Scott said he would “do everything within my power” to confirm the agents have the judicial warrants they need to legally apprehend someone.
“If they were to be in violation of state law then I would act upon that,” he said.
If ICE officers do apprehend an individual, they’re turned over to the U.S. Marshall Service and are transported to a federally-approved jail to be seen by a federal magistrate, Scott said. They don’t get booked into the Del Norte County Jail, he said.
Scott acknowledged that a registered sex offender sweep could potentially appear to be an ICE raid. Though he said they’re often more lowkey, if the person they’re investigating is on parole for a violent offense or there are children in the house or a significant other, there will likely be a few law enforcement partners, including Del Norte County Probation. A transport unit may also be on scene if an arrest is likely, the sheriff said.
But Scott urged people to take a closer look at the officers’ uniforms, stating that his deputies as well as probation have the agency they work for clearly identified in large yellow lettering on the back.
Any kind of a sweep, whether it’s a registered sex offender sweep or a narcotics sweep, also often involves unmarked vehicles, he said, but a Del Norte County Sheriff’s patrol car on scene “as much as possible to curtail any concerns.”
“Compliance checks for registered sex offenders is something we do a few times a year,” Scott said. “If you see a lot of undercover vehicles, really look at what the insignias on (officers’) backs.”
Wednesday’s Facebook post about ICE comes after a handful of Del Norte residents aired their concerns about the federal agency to the Board of Supervisors on Jan. 13. This includes the Jan. 7 shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis.
One speaker, Lane Hillendahl, said she thought that ICE showing up in Del Norte County was inevitable unless the midterm elections happen before then.
Another speaker, Mary Niski, said Good’s death made her terrified that “anyone could be fair game.” She called for a plan to ensure that the sheriff’s office and CCPD would protect Del Norte County citizens and not to “aid and abet ICE when they do show up.”
“I know you guys can’t tell the sheriff’s office what to do, but I think you can urge them to come out in support of the citizens and the people, all the people, in Del Norte County,” Niski said.
On Wednesday, Scott said his office’s goal is to keep the community safe and asked for Del Norters to take a closer look at the uniforms involved if they witness something that looks like an ICE raid.
“ICE wear vests that say Border Patrol or say ICE,” he said. “A lot of deputies wear cowboy hats, especially if it’s raining. We’re trying to do our best for the county and I hate to see rumors get started.”
