Shasta County’s Board of Supervisors has a message for Kristi Noem, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security: Shasta County is not providing sanctuary to undocumented immigrants.
The department (DHS) had previously issued what it said was a “comprehensive list of sanctuary jurisdictions including cities, counties, and states that are deliberately obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration laws and endangering American citizens,” according to a May 29 DHS statement.
Shasta County was on that list.
The Trump administration said the list “exposes sanctuary jurisdictions defying federal immigration law.”
“These sanctuary city politicians are endangering Americans and our law enforcement in order to protect violent criminal illegal aliens,” Noem said. “We are exposing these sanctuary politicians who harbor criminal illegal aliens and defy federal law. President Trump and I will always put the safety of the American people first. Sanctuary politicians are on notice: Comply with federal law.”
That the county was on that list was news to Shasta County Supervisor Chris Kelstrom.
Kelstrom said he found out the county was on the list when he was at the barber getting his hair cut. A reporter from the New York Times called him on the phone to ask him why a conservative county such as Shasta would be a sanctuary jurisdiction, he said.
Shasta County Supervisor Chris Kelstrom
He checked it out and found out the county was indeed on the list, which has since been unpublished. Kelstrom said he also checked with Sheriff Michael Johnson, who confirmed the county was not a sanctuary jurisdiction.
So Kelstrom and four other supervisors voted Monday to send a letter to Noem asking her to remove the county from the list.
The letter explains that in February 2018 the board passed a resolution declaring Shasta a non-sanctuary county. The letter also says the county remains a non-sanctuary jurisdiction that cooperates with federal authorities on immigration issues.
It isn’t clear which other jurisdictions remain on the DHS list of jurisdictions claiming to be sanctuary cities and counties. Within days of publishing the list, it was taken down after agencies complained about it, according to the Associated Press.
Kelstrom said the decision to remind DHS the county was not a sanctuary county was not in response to the rioting in Los Angeles over ICE agents’ arrests of alleged undocumented immigrants. He said he learned the county was on the list before rioting began.
He was concerned the county was at risk of losing federal funding if it did not cooperate with federal authorities’ attempts to enforce immigration laws, Kelstrom said.
It is also important to note that in a conservative-leaning area, the county cooperates with federal immigration authorities, Kelstrom said.
“That means we probably align more with the Trump administration than we do with the Gavin Newsom administration,” Kelstrom said.
While the county is ready to help the federal government, DHS has sought the county’s help on immigration issues only once in the past year, according to the sheriff’s office.
There have not been any recent immigration enforcement arrests or raids in Shasta County, sheriff’s office spokesman Tim Mapes said.
Within the past year, the department did share information about one individual with federal agents, and that was in connection to a warrant issued by a federal judge, Mapes said. He did not know the name of the individual or the alleged crime.
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This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Shasta County responds to Homeland Security’s list of sanctuary cities