Hundreds turn out to hear SLO County sheriff’s report on interactions with ICE
Hundreds of people turned out to attend a special San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors forum Tuesday where the Sheriff’s Office explained how it interacts with federal immigration officers.
The meeting, which lasted about seven hours at the Board of Supervisors chambers in SLO, was scheduled after activists urged the Sheriff’s Office for greater transparency in December.
A capacity crowd packed the board chambers, the lobby and two overflow rooms, while a crowd of protesters gathered outside, waving signs and chanting.
The forum, which lasted until 8:40 p.m., opened with the sheriff’s report, followed by almost four hours of public comment and then a discussion by the board, which voted 5-0 to direct staff to explore future actions the county might take regarding ICE operations here.
Sheriff Ian Parkinson kicked off the state-mandated forum by sharing data on how many people in custody have been turned over to ICE, how many federal requests went unfulfilled and what his office can and cannot do under state and federal law.
After only one San Luis Obispo County Jail inmate was transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from September to December 2024, the Sheriff’s Office released 69 inmates to ICE custody in 2025, he said. The Sheriff’s Office declined to tell The Tribune why it only shared four months of data for 2024.
The Sheriff’s Office increased its compliance with ICE requests due to a change in federal immigration policy in 2025, he said.
“In 2024, it made zero sense to be turning people over, even if they had a prior conviction, because they would turn around and come right back in,” Parkinson said.
In 2025, however, “the border was secured” and ICE increased its ability to pick people up from the jail — so the Sheriff’s Office started complying with detainers when permitted by state law, Parkinson said.
Sheriff’s Office shares data about ICE at Truth Act Forum
California’s Transparent Review of Unjust Transfers and Holds Act, also called the TRUTH Act, requires SLO County to hold “at least one” community forum if the Sheriff’s Office transfers inmates to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a given year. That forum must occur at some point during the following year with at least 30 days advance notice to the public, the law said.
From September to December 2024, ICE submitted 111 requests to the Sheriff’s Office, the staff report said. Those communications included detainers and requests for the transfer of an inmate or an interview with an inmate.
The Sheriff’s Office did not comply with any of these requests, Parkinson said.
However, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation arranged the transfer of one San Luis Obispo County Jail inmate to ICE. In this case, an inmate who was serving a prison sentence for murder was briefly detained at the San Luis Obispo County Jail while making an appearance in court, Parkinson said.
When the inmate finished her testimony in court, the Sheriff’s Office notified the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that she was ready to return to prison. The state prison arranged for ICE to pick her up from the jail instead, Parkinson said.
“It was an unusual one,” he said.
The Sheriff’s Office also released one inmate to the custody of the U.S. Marshal’s Office to comply with a warrant from the U.S. District Court, the staff report said.
The Sheriff’s Office drastically increased its compliance with ICE requests in 2025.
Last year, ICE submitted 287 requests to the Sheriff’s Office, the staff report said. The Sheriff’s Office complied with 83 of those requests.
“We’ve had ICE 16 times out to the jail lobby” that ICE notified the watch commander of, Parkinson said at the forum, met with a silent protest from audience members holding up signs that said “lies” and “propaganda” in response.
In 2025, the Sheriff’s Office released 69 inmates to ICE custody. That same year, the Sheriff’s Office released 15 people to ICE to comply with federal warrants, Parkinson said. It was unclear whether those 15 inmates were included in the total count of 69 inmates released to ICE.
The staff report also noted four “pending releases” under the “federal warrants” section, but did not provide further clarification.
Five inmates transferred to ICE custody were convicted of murder, mayhem, manslaughter or arson.
The Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request to separate the data by crime ahead of the forum.
Eight inmates were convicted of sex crimes, six inmates had assault convictions and nine inmates were convicted of domestic violence.
Meanwhile, six inmates were convicted for drug crimes, and nine inmates were convicted of felony DUI.
Finally, 22 were convicted of robbery, theft or an “other crime,” the staff report said. The Sheriff’s Office did not share what the “other” crimes were.
Of the total inmates, 19 were transferred because of a federal warrant.
Could SLO County create ICE-free zones?
During the forum, Supervisor Jimmy Paulding questioned whether the county could create areas — or “ICE-free zones” — where federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are prohibited from entering.
“It’s something of great concern to members of the community that are here today and reflected in the volumes of public correspondence that we’ve received,” he said.
During the forum, county counsel Jon Ansolabehere said that the county cannot prevent ICE agents from accessing areas that are open to the general public, such as streets, sidewalks and parks.
However, several counties have adopted ICE-free zones that prohibit ICE agents from conducting operations or making arrests on county property, he said.
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 have initiated similar ordinances.
These types of ICE-free zones could effectively bar county facilities from being used for non-intended purposes. For example, federal agents couldn’t turn a parking lot into a processing center, Ansolabehere said.
Gibson suggested turning the jail lobby into a non-public lobby, which would prevent both ICE agents and protesters from assembling there.
Ansolabehere said the county could legally do so, it just may be difficult to implement.
The community speaks out during public comment
The longest period of the forum was devoted to public comment, and dozens of community members from all corners of the county stepped up to their thoughts.
SLO County resident Jane Pomeroy said she was deeply alarmed by ICE’s presence throughout the county and that the federal agency had spread fear among neighbors, farmworkers and school children.
“My son’s second-grade classmates are afraid they’ll leave school to find an empty home,” she said during public comment. “Principals are quietly circulating guardianship forms and preparations for parents being taken.”
Pomeroy said she could not accept this as normal and called on the Board of Supervisors to take action “before San Luis Obispo County becomes Minneapolis,” where ICE agents recently shot and killed two protesters.
Steve Cole from Cambria urged county supervisors to develop policies and ordinances “to stop all interaction between ICE and the sheriff’s department and all ICE access to the jail property.”
Raised in Los Osos, CJ Trujillo said she loves the Central Coast — and when she went to Cal State Fullerton for college, she did everything she could to return to the seaside town where she grew up.
“This is my home, and this is my community,” she said, presenting a photo of her family to the board.
The ICE agents who swarm San Luis Obispo County, however, aren’t members of this community, she said.
“These masked thugs from L.A. are not your community,” she said. “These masked men with guns, pepper spray, tasers, they threatened us, they assaulted us.”
In December, ICE agents in the jail lobby shoved two people during a confrontation between ICE and a group of protesters. Later, the Sheriff’s Office posted videos of the protesters shouting obscenities at the ICE agents. That video was taken by an ICE agent on the scene.
“Threatening and cyberbullying your community to assist federal thugs is not protecting and serving your community,” Trujillo said. “As a rapid responder, I stopped calling for law enforcement’s help because I know they won’t help.”
Some commenters, however, said they were in support of ICE and the Sheriff’s Office, which prompted boos from many in the room.
One of those speakers included SLO County Republican Party chair Randall Jordan.
“I am so disappointed in this county, the stance that these folks have taken here,” he said, noting that President Donald Trump was elected to implement his immigration policy.
“It’s unconstitutional to cross our borders without being legal and without having permission,” Jordan said. “We need to support ICE. We need to support our sheriff.”
Former U.S. Rep. Andrea Seastrand also spoke in support of the Sheriff’s Office.
“I support arresting and deporting criminals that prey on all of us,” she said.
The vast majority of speakers at public comment, though, called for an end to collaboration between ICE and the Sheriff’s Office.
805 UndocuFund executive director Primitiva Hernandez said that the Sheriff’s Office has the power to decide whether to comply with ICE detainers, and she urged them not to.
“People who look like me no longer feel safe,” which is why 805 UndocuFund expanded its services to SLO County without any funding from local governments in the area, she said.
Supervisors discuss next steps after Truth Act forum
Following public comment, Supervisor Jimmy Paulding said that the public’s trust of local law enforcement was quickly eroding due to fear from federal immigrant enforcement agents.
“I think there’s an opportunity here for us to work together with the sheriff to help raise awareness to the fact that these are the good guys,” he said.
In response to that statement, about 20 people walked out of the meeting in protest, with some yelling, “shame.”
Supervisor Bruce Gibson praised the more than seven-hour-long forum as an example of “American democracy at work.”
In the future, he said that the county needs to distance itself as much as possible from ICE.
“It is absolutely repugnant to me that we have anonymous, masked paramilitary secret police who are engaged in a conscious, conscious campaign of intimidation and brutality, and they are out of control,” Gibson said at the forum. “They are, in fact, acting as the Gestapo.”
The supervisors unanimously approved a motion to direct staff — executive staff, county counsel, the Sheriff’s Office and other county departments — to look into options for future actions. This included forming a subcommittee comprised of Paulding and Ortiz-Legg to work on these issues.
Other actions included exploring to what extent the county can control its non-public spaces and facilities, as well as whether the county can bar ICE from commandeering county spaces for certain activities.
The motion also included looking into whether the Sheriff’s Office could release quarterly reports to the board and public, and to research whether more health and social services could be directed to families who are impacted by immigration enforcement.
“These are American citizens according to the United States Constitution,” Supervisor John Peschong said, referring to the children left behind when a parent is taken into ICE custody. “I think we owe it to them to be able to figure out a way to take care of them through our social service programs here in San Luis Obispo County.”
Gibson called on staff to provide a report to the board within 60 days, after which the board can then consider next steps.
“We need to channel that anger into appropriate action to start taking back our democracy,” he said.
Protesters packed SLO building, protest ahead of forum
At the start of the TRUTH Act Forum, roughly 150 community members packed the board’s chambers, with many wearing orange shirts, flowers and bandanas and sporting signs in support of the local immigrant community.
805 Undocufund volunteer Lisa Casale arrived at the forum an hour early to snag a seat. She planned to speak at public comment to “know the truth about the level of cooperation the sheriff is providing” to immigrant enforcement officials, she told The Tribune.
“It’s important that the Board of Supervisors do everything in their power to make ICE-free zones,” Casale said.
Meanwhile outside the building, a protest bloomed with roughly 100 people singing “The Star Spangled Banner.” Across the street, several police officers on bicycles observed the protest.
Protesters outside also carried signs calling for a stop to ICE’s recent immigration sweeps and chanted “no ICE, no fear, immigrants are welcome here.”
Baywood resident Linda Martin led the crowd in a rendition of “Hold On,” a song written by Heidi Wilson in Minnesota to protest recent killings by ICE agents.
As a trauma nurse by trade, Martin said Alex Pretti’s death felt personal.
“That could have been me,” she said.
She called on the Board of Supervisors to establish ICE-free zones.
“Our immigrant communities are suffering,” she said. “It’s time for us to be their voice and keep them safe.”
Cesar Vasquez, a local leader and activist with 805UndocuFund, told the rally-goers that over 1,500 people have been taken by ICE across Ventura, Santa, Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties — an average of 10 people a day.
“Every single day our community is under attack,” he said. “Every single day, our people are under attack.” A couple weeks ago, ICE took a man from the San Luis Obispo County Jail who was in there for hunting without a license, he noted.
“These aren’t the criminals that the government is trying to share that they are,” he said.
“There’s this argument I hear constantly that these immigrants deserve to be protected because they provide to the economy, right? Because they provide to the taxes. But that argument is a selfish argument, right?” he said. “’Oh, we should protect them because they serve me. We should protect them because they serve my economy, right? Because they provide me with resources.’ But we need to be here because they’re human.”
He made a call for volunteers for 805UndocuFund, who can participate in an upcoming training at Cal Poly.
“Being disappointed is not enough,” he said. “Waking up angry is not enough. We need to go out there and do the work.”
This story was originally published January 27, 2026 at 11:14 AM.
