Location: Sheriff's Headquarters, 833 S. Akers St., Visalia

Incident Date: 5/17/18

Incident Time: 1600 hours

City: Visalia

Posted by: Media Relations

Sheriff Mike Boudreaux and members of his Executive Command Staff met Thursday with the Sheriff's Public Outreach Team, otherwise known as the SPOT Committee.  The SPOT committee was designed by the sheriff to hear and address concerns from the communities of Tulare County.  Sheriff Boudreaux shared with them what he discussed with Governor Brown earlier this week in Sacramento. 

They discussed the ramifications of SB 54, the Sanctuary State Bill that has become law in California, forbidding law enforcement from working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

Sheriff Boudreaux told them his message has not changed.  The issues of immigration reform is not a local issue but rather an item which needs to be addressed by Federal and State officials.  He discussed how the people who live here, regardless of immigration status, need to be able to reach out to law enforcement when they become a victim.   

Sheriff Boudreaux explained how current law will not allow him to work with ICE even when a person is identified as being a menace to the undocumented community.  This creates an environment where people who are undocumented become repeated victims of criminals who are undocumented.   

He told the Governor and he told his SPOT committee: “Let ICE work with us in our jails where we already have someone in custody who has violated the law.”   

Current law will not allow ICE to work within our jail system and contact people who pose this threat of committing crimes against our undocumented community and other members of our community.   Sheriff Boudreaux opposes SB 54 for this reason.  

The SPOT committee understood his position and asked how they could help.  

Sheriff Boudreaux is putting together community meetings for those people who know someone who is undocumented or who are undocumented themselves living here in Tulare County to explain that his focus is on the criminals who commit crimes and endanger the quality of life for law-abiding residents. 

 
Sheriff Boudreaux would rather have ICE in his jails working with local law enforcement.     

Sheriff Boudreaux created the SPOT committee to help facilitate community learning and outreach, increase awareness of what the Sheriff’s Office can do for the public and to give the community an opportunity to communicate with the Sheriff through members of this team.

Sheriff Boudreaux and members of his Executive Command Staff were in the Capitol earlier this week as part of the California State Sheriff’s Association’s Legislation Days.