Fresno City-County Immigrant Working Group formed

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Fresno County Supervisor Luis Chavez and City Council Member Miguel Arias have formed a City/County Immigrant Affairs Working Group. The working group made up of business, civic, and community leaders, will meet weekly to better understand the needs of the immigrant community.

“What are the rights of people to engage with ICE and Border Patrol, as well as making sure that they have access to their resources that they are eligible for, whether they’re documented, undocumented immigrants in our community, and to also ensure that everybody knows that California is a sanctuary state and SB54 is clear that applies for everyone,” said Fresno City Council Member Miguel Arias.

Since a recent Border Patrol raid in Kern County, Chavez and Arias report that farm workers are still not showing up to work, children are missing school, families are skipping doctor’s appointments, and even basic necessities like food and water are being restricted. Many are too scared to go grocery shopping for fear of being deported.

“There’s a lot of misinformation on whether raids are taking place or is simply just an ICE agent passing through the city, on their way somewhere else. So this working group is trying to identify ways to give factual information out to the public on what actually is taking place versus what’s been rumored to take place,” Arias added.

Senate Bill 54, passed in 2017, provides some deportation protections to immigrants in California. However, some have identified flaws in the law. Wednesday on social media, Supervisor Nathan Magsig and Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni emphasized the need for reform. Zanoni wishes ICE could take undocumented, previous offenders into custody.

“I’ll give you the example, is because when that person is booked into our jail, they will spend three to four hours for a DUI in custody. They’re going to be released. Then ICE will see that on the public records of the booking log. They will end up going out to that individual’s last known address. And because their job is immigration, not only would they look to detain him and take him into their custody, but they’ll also find people that potentially are just here undocumented or are not involved in criminal activity,” he said.

Magsig and Zanoni added that the law currently conflicts with the oath they’ve taken to serve their community. And Chavez understands their perspective.

“I think there’s consensus even within the immigrant groups that we’ve been working with. Yeah, absolutely. Those criminals that prey on our children, that prey on the elderly, on our own community, let’s arrest them. Let’s get them out. But not the mom and pop that are going, you know, to work, that are going to the food processing plant or going to our farms or our agricultural fields. Those folks, I think, should be left alone,” Chavez said.

Arias and Chavez discussed the economic hardship that has already occurred and could worsen if farm workers continue not to show up to work or if they are deported. This means consumers will likely see a hike at the grocery store.