Sheriff David O. Livingston. From CCCSheriff website.
By Daniel Borsuk
Contra Costa County Sheriff-Coroner David Livingston has provided at the request of the Contra Costa Herald a copy of his Dec. 1 letter to answer questions whether the department is out of compliance with federal immigration laws that entitled the Coroner-Sheriff Office to nearly $25 million in federal grants in 2016. CCSheriff ltr to DOJ re 8 USC 1373 Compliance 12-1-17
The sheriff’s letter was due Dec, 8, and he essentially informed U. S. Acting Assistant Attorney General Alan Hanson that the Office of the Contra Costa County Sheriff-Coroner is in compliance with federal immigration policy. That is in spite of the fact that beginning Jan. 1, 2018 California law enforcement agencies must begin to enforce Senate Bill 54, the California Values Act or what is better known as the sanctuary state law.
Livingston included with the letter his department’s draft policy on how it will and won’t cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which was issued Dec. 3, 2013 and updated on Nov. 16, 2017.
In his letter to Hanson, Livingston wrote:
“The California Values Act, with we must comply. That Act provides specifically that it does not authorize information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful of an individual, or from requesting from federal immigration authority’s immigration status information lawful or unlawful of an individual, or maintaining or exchanging that information with any other federal, state, or local government entity.”
Sheriff Livingston missed attending the Dec. 7 meeting of the Board of Supervisors’ Public Safety Committee meeting, disappointing a number of committee members who wanted to hear him comment and answer questions about the draft policy on ICE-undocumented jail inmates, but obviously were unable to do so.
“I am surprised and disappointed that the sheriff is not here,” said District 1 Supervisor John Gioia of Richmond at the committee meeting. “I don’t know if this has ever happened before where the sheriff has not appeared at a Public Protection Committee meeting.”
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Just wanted to compliment the Herald here and this reporter on this fine article. The issues being debated here in this story are very important. I think Livingston’s stunt – failing to show up to a public safety hearing – is telling. The Herald is the story, that’s great journalism.
REW,
Thank you for reading the Herald, for taking the time to comment, and your kind words.
The credit goes to our reporter, Daniel Borsuk, who was relentless on this.
Please keep reading and let others know about our site, as we work to provide news and information about Contra Costa County you might not get elsewhere.
You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter @cocoherald.
Allen Payton, Publisher
What I find astonishing is that KRON, CoCo Times, et al, haven’t
reported a single word on this. Lots of articles on homophobia, legal dope and sports, though.
Jimboecv,
Thank you for reading the Herald and for taking the time to comment.
Not sure why the others haven’t reported on it. Must be because their reporters didn’t pursue it like ours, Daniel Borsuk, did.
Please keep reading and let others know about our site, as we work to provide news and information about Contra Costa County you might not get elsewhere.
You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter @cocoherald.
Allen Payton, Publisher