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Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Thursday that his department had “no option” but that his department had “no option” if he received a federal judicial warrant seeking the relocation of prisoners at the county jail.
Luna addressed what he described as broad community concerns about the department’s policies regarding cooperation with federal immigration authorities during a press conference with Attorney General. His remarks came the day after the Times report revealed in May and June that the sheriff’s department had transferred 20 prisoners to the ice in accordance with the warrant.
LA County Inspector Max Huntsman and other legal experts said federal law requires local law enforcement to comply with warrants issued by federal judges issued by Trump and local “sanctuary” policies aimed at protecting immigrants from deportation. The warrant includes criminal charges, and the department said it is not a civil immigration violation.
“This is a federal judicial warrant signed by a judge. There’s no option. That means someone went before the judge to get an arrest warrant,” Luna said.
He added that the prisoner whose department has been turned over had “sufficient causes to obtain an arrest warrant and usually committed serious crimes,” including attempted murder, rape and robbery. “This isn’t an ice cream vendor, it’s a woman making tacos on the streets.”
The sheriff also said it had “issued a request” to sheriffs in California counties, including Los Angeles and San Francisco counties, asking them to provide a list of all US citizen prisoners, and “request” a “request” that includes information on criminal history plus the timing of release.
The Justice Department said in a statement that it hopes the sheriff will voluntarily cooperate with the request, but “where necessary, the department will pursue all available means of obtaining data, including subpoena.”
Luna said, “At this time, we have not received this letter officially. We have heard about it, but we have never actually seen it.”
“When we receive the letter, we will definitely check it out and determine what information we have to provide it legally,” he said.
The sheriff noted that potential efforts to compile such lists will be complicated by the fact that his department will not gather information about the immigration status of people when booked to county jail.
“When you’re booked, processed, and received a life-canceled, federal agents will know you’re in custody, because it’s a national system,” Luna said early Thursday at the LA County Board of Civil Supervisors’ monthly meeting.
He said at a press conference Thursday that he believes ICE will use information collected during its booking process to compile a list of people and issue citizen immigration detainees.
Under the Sanctuary policy, the Sheriff’s Office is legally prohibited from handing over inmates in response to ICE requests to retain people for so-called detainees or potential deportation.
Luna said in 2024 that his department “received 995 civil detainee requests from the ice and did not comply with either of them as it violates both state law and county policies.”
Luna also provided repeated relief to county residents who raised concerns about the unfounded outlook that the sheriff’s department is engaged in broad cooperation with ICE.
He said he personally believes that “we should all be worried” about “either federal agents “wash or chase people around the Home Depot,” and that his department hasn’t supported ice for this type of street business that has instilled deep fear in the immigrant community in LA County since it began last month.
“We fully understand the concerns, fears and anxiety from our community here in Los Angeles County,” he said. “We do not respect ice detainees or requests for transfers. We do not allow immigrants to operate within our facilities, nor do we allow ICE to use the county property database or personnel.”
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