DA opposes ICE-free zones in SLO County and issues warning
After hundreds of people in San Luis Obispo County protested the killing of Minneapolis resident Renee Good over the weekend, District Attorney Dan Dow said his office would not support ICE-free zones, and he warned protesters to follow the law — or risk prosecution.
On Sunday, more than 250 people gathered near the San Luis Obispo County Jail to call for ICE-free zones that would prohibit federal immigration agents from taking people into custody on county property.
On Thursday, however, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release that ICE-free zones “are often symbolic and don’t override federal jurisdiction.”
The District Attorney’s Office said it will support the right to protest, petition the government and exercise free speech in public forums, but the office will prosecute “unlawful” protest activity.
“I will always support the rights of people to protest; however, I strongly urge them to do so safely and within the limits of both federal and California law,” Dow said in the release. “Any behavior that is violent or otherwise criminal will detract from the weight and value of your political speech and may lead to arrest and prosecution.”
Should SLO County establish ICE-free zones?
The first ICE-free zone in the nation was created in Chicago in October in an executive order by Mayor Brandon Johnson, the Los Angeles Times reported. In California, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and San Mateo County Board of Supervisors are considering similar ordinances.
Now in San Luis Obispo County, activists are also calling for ICE-free zones.
During the past 13 months, ICE took 103 people into custody from San Luis Obispo County, 805 UndocuFund rapid response organizer Cesar Vasquez said while speaking on a Diversity Coalition panel on Tuesday night.
Those detentions include 60 people from San Luis Obispo, 21 from Paso Robles, three from Arroyo Grande, 10 from San Miguel, three from Atascadero, one from Oceano, two from Grover Beach and three from Nipomo, he said.
“These are everyday people that are being taken,” Vasquez said. He was among the activists calling for ICE-free zones on county property.
Dow, however, said the county cannot interfere with ICE activity.
“Federal law applies nationwide under the U.S. Constitution, and local or state governments do not have the authority to prohibit lawful federal enforcement activities,” the release said.
San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Bruce Gibson disagreed with Dow and said he’s “looking into” developing an ordinance to establish ICE-free zones in county buildings anyway.
At least three county supervisors would need to vote to direct staff to create such an ordinance, he said.
Overall, Gibson said he thought Dow’s comments were dismissive of the public’s legitimate concerns about ICE.
“(He) demonstrated his continued loyalty to the Trump administration and this lawless masked secret police that is just terrorizing our immigrant community,” Gibson said.
Protest leaders respond to DA’s comments
This isn’t the first time local law enforcement threatened to arrest protesters if they step out of line.
In December, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office chastised protesters for shouting obscenities at ICE agents in the jail lobby and warned future protesters that they could be arrested for disrupting jail business.
San Luis Obispo 50501 Movement organizer Jesse Hudson called Dow’s statement “just another scare tactic.”
“He’s trying to prevent protesters from taking to the streets and protesting against ICE,” Hudson said. “He is lockstep in with ICE and with the fascist regime that is occupying federal government.”
Hudson said San Luis Obispo County protesters have not violated the law or used violent tactics — so the District Attorney’s Office has no reason to publish such a statement.
“I appreciate that the DA’s Office, as a part of their statement, said that they support our right to protest,” Hudson added. “I think they should have just left it at that, because it serves no purpose besides just an intimidation tactic to bring up all these possibilities or assertions of violence and criminal conduct when there has been nothing like that.”
Cambria Indivisible leader Susan Mackey said ICE agents have endangered public safety, while protesters have not.
In December, ICE agents shoved two protesters in the jail lobby, then rushed into a secure portion of the jail to attempt to detain an inmate who was being released. Jail staff had to tell the ICE agents to leave the secure area of the jail.
“The DA is trying to create a false equivalence between those peacefully protesting and the violence from federal agents and local police they are facing,” Mackey said in a statement send to The Tribune. “No one protesting ICE activity in SLO County is acting violently, yet several have been victims of violence by ICE agents.”
This story was originally published January 15, 2026 at 1:46 PM.
