Healdsburg’s mayor says police won’t be part of deportation force

Healdsburg’s new mayor wants to assure members of the Latino community that despite President-elect Donald Trump’s talk of deporting millions of undocumented immigrants, the Healdsburg Police Department doesn’t have plans to cooperate with such a program.

“There are a lot of people out there that are afraid based of his rhetoric,” Mayor Shaun McCaffery said in reference to Trump’s talk of mass deportations.

McCaffery, unanimously selected as mayor this week by his council colleagues, is planning an informational tour of local schools beginning in January where, among other things, he’ll assure students police aren’t arresting people simply because of immigration status.

“It’s pretty unlikely the local police force will become a deportation force,” he said Wednesday. “We can assure them local elected officials are looking out for everyone’s best interests, including those who are undocumented.”

McCaffery has no registered party preference, but acknowledges he voted for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

He said Trump’s rhetoric and the election was “very polarizing and instilled fear in certain groups.”

In Healdsburg, where the population is 34 percent Latino, he said children “are worried about their parents going away” and their families being broken up.

The children are probably born here and are American citizens “but who knows about mom, or dad or grandpa,” he said. “Maybe one is an American citizen and one is not.”

“Immigration, especially here, is the No. 1 thing people are worried about. They think there is going to be some deportation force that will sweep though Sonoma County,” he said. “Local law enforcement won’t be a party to it.

“Your local government is working for you and you don’t have to focus on what’s happening on the national level. Locally, everything is all right in my mind.”

Last month, other Sonoma County law enforcement agencies, including the Sheriff’s Office, Santa Rosa, Petaluma and Sebastopol police departments, said they expect no changes in the way local officers interact with undocumented residents.

Essentially, they said their officers do not take enforcement action based on immigration status alone and have no plans to change that policy.

McCaffery’s comments during an interview this week followed requests by some citizens after the November election to have the City Council declare Healdsburg a “sanctuary city” for immigrants.

“Healdsburg is already a de facto sanctuary city,” he said. “Our police force already does not divulge information to the federal government about immigration status.”

Police Chief Kevin Burke told the City Council earlier this month it’s been a longstanding policy and practice of the Healdsburg Police Department not to detain individuals solely for immigration status.

He said there are “a number of federal law violations that we don’t enforce” because that is not the role of local police.

Burke said it is considered best practices “because it would be difficult to engage the police department if they were worried about us checking into their immigration status.”

He said the department has no intention of changing its policy.

McCaffery, 41, who was just re-elected to his second, four-year term on the City Council, is the domestic partner of a Healdsburg Elementary school teacher and her two children, aged 11 and 9.

He served as mayor once before and said he enjoys going to schools to address students and answer their questions, which could range from housing to “how can I get a ride on a fire truck?” and “what happens when I flush the toilet?”

“My aim is to inform kids about local government and how important it is in our lives,” he said of the school visits.

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 707-521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com.