Part two of a two-part series. Read part one at bit.ly/ice-marin.
When Immigration and Customs Enforcement detains one Marin resident, the ripple effects can impact an entire community.
Other immigrants become fearful of leaving their homes or reporting to required ICE check-ins. A person who is held in an ICE detention center or deported may have been the sole financial provider for their family, leaving relatives without rent or grocery money.
Immigration attorney Lina Baroudi represents a Marin resident who was detained by ICE for a few weeks at the California City Detention Center. Although a U.S. District Court judge ordered his release and he’s back in Marin, the man is now experiencing trauma symptoms.
“His spouse is reporting that he’s not eating,” Baroudi explained. “He’s having nightmares. He’s completely a changed person from this—the three weeks that he was in custody.”
When a parent is taken, children suffer too.
“Children, they don’t know how to process it,” said Lisa Bennett, director of Marin Rapid Response Network, an ICE watchdog group. “So, they will show a lot of signs of stress. They won’t eat, they don’t want to go to school, they’re not sleeping.”
It appears ICE may have recently placed Marin on its radar. Since mid-March, the federal agency has detained nine Marin residents, compared with an average of one to two per month in the previous 16-month period.
Even before ICE ramped up activity in Marin, local organizations and government agencies were increasing efforts to protect the immigrant population. President Donald Trump’s promise to deport one million people per year and news reports of immigration raids across the country caused growing concern. The response has run the gamut.
Marin Rapid Response Network
A nonprofit group, Marin Rapid Response Network operates with Bennett at the helm, two part-time staffers and more than 1,000 volunteers. Some volunteers serve as dispatchers for the 24-hour hotline that takes calls about ICE sightings. Others are trained legal observers sent out to document ICE activity.
Often the first point of contact for a family when a member has been detained, Marin Rapid Response Network also provides resources for issues they will face. It works with a collaborative of pro bono immigration attorneys. Step one for an attorney is locating the detained person in the ICE system. Then, the attorney meets with the individual while they’re in the detention center—either through a clinic or on the phone—and explains the process and options.
According to Bennett, if the initial attorney can’t take on the case, families typically approach a nonprofit or pro bono immigration service. Those organizations are frequently at capacity. The next call is to a private attorney, a costly alternative, but Marin Rapid Response Network works on finding funding.
“And then inevitably, if a major breadwinner is detained, mom is at home usually with some kids, and we try to find support for the family left behind so they can stay in Marin,” Bennett said. “We exhaust every possible resource for our families. And if they choose to stay, we’re at the point now where it’s time to hand them off to another agency that can take on their long-term needs.”
Nonprofits that provide ongoing services and case management for the immigrant community include Community Action Marin, North Marin Community Services and Canal Alliance, among others.
Marin County Board of Supervisors
The Marin County Board of Supervisors has also stepped up. Last year, it allocated $500,000 to “safeguard” immigrant communities by providing emergency funds and legal services.
Marin Rapid Response Network received some of the funding to help operate the hotline. The county also partnered with Community Action Marin to offer emergency assistance to families when ICE detains or deports the primary wage earner. Eligible families receive a one-time grant of $3,000 for housing, food and related expenses.
Through an alliance with the Marin County Office of Education and Immigration Legal Defense, an Oakland-based nonprofit, the county established a pilot program for free immigration legal services. Currently the program is open to students at Novato’s Hamilton School and San Rafael High School, their families and the two schools’ staff and faculty.
The Marin County Public Defender’s Office
The Marin County Public Defender’s Office provides legal representation for people who can’t afford an attorney. A special immigration unit within the department counsels clients facing criminal charges about how their immigration status could be affected.
“Primarily our role is to fulfill the Sixth Amendment duty we have to our clients, advising them accurately about the immigration consequences of their charges and any pleas they might be offered. And we try to mitigate those consequences, if possible,” said Rachael Keast, who has been an immigration attorney at the Public Defender’s Office since 2017.
Many of the immigration unit’s clients are lawful permanent residents, according to Keast. In layman’s terms, the client possesses a green card. However, a permanent resident can be deported if they are convicted of certain types of crimes.
“For those clients, it makes all the difference in the world if we can mitigate or avoid a deportable offense,” Keast said. “So, let’s say they’re charged with a deportable offense; we will go in and negotiate with the DA and try to get them to offer a non-deportable offense.”
The immigration unit also works with people on post-conviction relief for immigration reasons, and they represent immigrant juveniles. Overall, Keast hasn’t seen an increase in the number of cases that come through the immigration unit, but the work has become more difficult, considering the federal government’s current deportation policies.
“My clients are in an understandable panic mode, and that makes everything harder as well,” Keast said.
Keast is also aware of the four men who were detained by ICE—both inside and just outside of the Marin County Jail building—in March and April. Prior to March, ICE had not detained anyone leaving the jail since August 2020, she noted.
No ICE in Marin Coalition
Earlier this month, a coalition of 14 organizations presented an “ICE Free Marin” ordinance to the Board of Supervisors. Modeled after ordinances approved by San Francisco County, San Mateo County, Santa Cruz County and other jurisdictions, Marin’s version includes banning ICE from using county property and resources—including entering the Marin County Jail building to detain people who are being released.
While Marin County Sheriff Jamie Scardina voluntarily cooperates with ICE and allows the agency’s officers into the jail building, the No ICE in Marin Coalition maintains that Senate Bill 54, the California Values Acts, gives the Board of Supervisors the right to restrict the sheriff’s office cooperation with immigration authorities.
“Federal civil immigration enforcement within the County is entirely outside of the Sheriff’s designated criminal investigative functions,” the coalition wrote in an email to the supervisors.
It remains to be seen whether the board will follow the lead of other jurisdictions and approve the ordinance. But those behind the ICE Free Marin ordinance believe it has teeth and would provide a measure of safety and peace of mind to Marin’s immigrant community.
For more information on volunteering at Marin Rapid Response Network, visit multiculturalmarin.org/mrrn. Read the proposed ICE Free Marin ordinance at bit.ly/4wczcA7.
