Dozens of speakers urge Ventura County supervisors to end sheriff’s collaboration with ICE

Dozens of residents used the public-comment period of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors meeting to urge supervisors to end the sheriff’s collaboration with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), saying transfers to federal immigration detention facilities expose people to inhumane conditions and break up families.

Veronica Hernandez, an organizer with the Project Community Organization, told the board: "When our county releases our people to ICE, it becomes complicit in these injustices." Hernandez said detention centers are "inhumane, overcrowding, inadequate medical care, bad food, and abuse" and urged supervisors to follow other California jurisdictions that have ended cooperation with ICE. "Facilitating deportations is not justice, it's discrimination," she said. "I urge you to end this double barrel policy that is destroying families and harming our community."

The comment came amid a lengthy public-comment session: the meeting moderator said there were about 60 main speakers signed up. Several speakers referenced the sheriff’s role in transferring people to ICE custody; speakers cited examples of other California counties and cities, including Los Angeles County, the City of San Francisco and Santa Clara County, as jurisdictions that have curtailed or ended similar cooperation, a point Hernandez made during her remarks.

Meeting staff and moderators also addressed technical and access issues. At the start of public comment, staff provided guidance for attendees using Zoom interpretation services and asked commenters using interpreter channels to speak loudly and clearly so their remarks could be interpreted for the board and the public. Staff also asked commenters to email their remarks to the clerk of the board at clerkoftheboard@ventura.org when the Zoom audio appeared unreliable.

The transcript records public testimony and logistical exchanges during the comment period but does not show any formal motion, vote or directive by the board on the subject of ICE collaboration. The portion of the meeting captured in the transcript focused on public testimony rather than deliberation or action by the supervisors.

Speakers identified by name who addressed or appeared during the public-comment period included Veronica Hernandez (organizer, Project Community Organization). The transcript lists many additional commenters by name and indicates a high volume of public participation on the item.