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Around a dozen volunteers were stationed outside Maguire Correctional Facility in Redwood City on Friday night, Nov. 6, and into Saturday morning after two immigration enforcement agents were reported looking for recently released inmates and taking at least one into custody.
Community members handed out cards explaining legal rights in English and Spanish and connected people with the rapid response network, said Sara Matlin, an ACLU San Mateo County Chapter volunteer who was speaking in her personal capacity.
“Everyone deserves to be safe and treated as a human being, regardless of where they were born, regardless of their legal history,” Matlin said.
Matlin, who had been outside Maguire from 6 p.m. to after midnight, said volunteers believed ICE had taken at least one person into custody after the person was released from the jail Friday.
Earlier in the night, Matlin said she saw two men who identified themselves as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents standing outside the jail’s exit. Redwood City Councilmember Chris Sturken also said he identified two ICE agents outside the jail. One agent showed a badge, but neither provided a judicial warrant, Sturken said.
Redwood City Mayor Elmer Martínez Saballos joined volunteers outside Maguire to monitor possible immigration enforcement activity and ensure county restrictions were being followed. A San Mateo County ordinance bars Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from staging on county property for immigration enforcement, including the space in front of the jail, though the enforceability of such rules is disputed.
Matlin said she and other volunteers with organizations such as Faith in Action, Peninsula Interfaith Coalition on Immigration and Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN) plan to continue stationing volunteers outside the jail to support people being released for as long as necessary.
While San Mateo County currently has a non-cooperation policy with ICE and does not notify the agency when people are released or hold inmates at ICE’s request, some worry that county officials are looking to change that.
Supervisors Jackie Spiker, Ray Mueller and Lisa Gauthier voted Oct. 20 to request data on the criminal convictions of people named in ICE requests, drawing opposition from residents concerned it could weaken the policy. The vote did not change the county’s ordinance.
“The people who are released from our jails have already served their time,” Matlin said of the vote. “We also know that people who are taking care of their families, who are needed in our community, may never come home if they are taken by ICE.”
Some volunteers want San Mateo County to change its practices to better support people afraid of immigration enforcement. Kimberly Woo, who works for SIREN, said San Mateo County should look to policies that other Bay Area jurisdictions have already adopted.
“For example, while the Maguire jail lobby is closed from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., in Santa Clara County, they let people who are being released stay in the lobby if they do not feel safe leaving,” Woo said.
