Sonoma County voters favor citizenship for Dreamers, limited cooperation with ICE

Nearly two-thirds of surveyed Sonoma County voters support legal curbs on local law enforcement that prevent officers from inquiring about immigration status when deciding to detain people, according to new results from The Press Democrat Poll.

A slightly lower share of those surveyed - 60 percent - said they either supported a policy change that limits Sonoma County jail officials’ cooperation with federal immigration agents or would want to see even less cooperation with federal authorities in immigration cases.

And 86 percent of poll respondents said that Sonoma County’s Dreamers - young immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children - should be allowed to stay in the country. A solid majority - 58 percent - said they should also be granted citizenship.

The results show Sonoma County’s electorate stands in strong support of the sanctuary policies and laws in California that help safeguard undocumented immigrants. Those measures have come under sharp attack by the Trump administration, which has sought to ramp up deportations, targeting a broader cross-section of undocumented residents, while further cracking down on illegal crossings at the southern border.

“The vast majority of voters in Sonoma County want to ensure that immigrants are treated fairly and allowed to stay and granted citizenship as opposed to being deported,” said David Binder, whose San Francisco-based research firm conducted the poll for the newspaper. “They’re kind of in tune with the state overall, which tends to want to be more accommodating with the immigrants rather than deport them.”

The telephone poll surveyed 500 registered county voters in the first week of May on a broad range of topics, including the growth of the local cannabis industry, the governor’s race and quality of life issues.

Half of the respondents were asked the three immigration-related questions. The results had a margin of error of 6.2 percent. The gap between some of the opposing views was significant enough to overcome that margin. In other cases, it wasn’t.

The results showed that Sonoma County voters on the whole are satisfied with how local authorities have adjusted their operations to shield otherwise law-abiding undocumented immigrants from federal detention.

The most notable change came last August, when the Sheriff’s Office moved to limit jail officials’ cooperation with federal immigration officials to only cases where inmates were convicted of certain serious and violent crimes. The move mirrored state law that was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in October.

Of those surveyed, 39 percent said they would support even less cooperation with federal authorities; 21 percent said they would support the same level under the new state law, while 38 percent said they wanted more cooperation with federal agents.

Poll respondent Bethany Clark, 18, of Santa Rosa, said the level of cooperation between local law enforcement should remain as is - only in cases where serious and violent crimes are committed.

Clark, who grew up in Rincon Valley and graduated from Maria Carrillo High School last year, just finished her first year at Santa Rosa Junior college.

Overall, Clark said she was sympathetic to the forces that drive illegal immigration, including economic disparity, violence targeting whole populations and climate change.

“I personally believe that with immigration and people coming here, I don’t think they’re typically coming illegally for the wrong reasons,” she said.

Clark said it was “unnecessary” for local law enforcement officials to make inquiries about immigration status. “If the issue of whether or not they’re here illegally or legally is unrelated to the encounter with law enforcement, the question should not be asked,” she said.

Danny Aldridge, 61, of Healdsburg, disagreed.

Aldridge, owner of a small business in downtown Santa Rosa, said that even in cases where immigration status is irrelevant, the more information local law enforcement officials have about a suspect or someone they encounter the better.

“I would just like law enforcement to know who they’re talking to, who they’re dealing with,” Aldridge said. “Not to create a deportation thing, but the more information they can have in front of them, the better judgment they can make when dealing with a situation.”

Aldridge said he sided with the 38 percent of poll participants who said they’d like to see greater cooperation between local authorities and federal immigration agents. He said law agencies function better when they cooperate more and share information.

“They all need to be on the same page, whatever page that is,” he said.

Across all three immigration-related questions, the greatest share of respondents - 63 percent - said local law enforcement officials should not be asking questions about immigration status, drawing a clear line between community policing and the enforcement of federal immigration laws.

Lauren Mendelsohn, a local attorney who specializes in the cannabis industry, where criminal, business and constitutional law often intersect, said she is a “strong supporter of immigrant rights” and giving refuge to those fleeing famine, wars and chronic violence.

Mendelsohn said there are legal grounds for local law enforcement agencies to reject conscription to enforce federal law.

“I think California is a great state - one of the most powerful whether economically or socially. Officers here should have the right to make decisions about how they can police in their own communities,” Mendelsohn said.

Conducted in early May, The Press Democrat Poll predated political fallout over President Donald Trump’s policy to prosecute all who enter the country illegally. The policy resulted in many parents who were seeking asylum being separated from their children while the adults were processed through the criminal justice system.

The separation of families at the border provoked a national backlash that forced Trump to change his policy, ensuring that such families going forward are kept together during criminal proceedings for the parents.

Empathy toward immigrant children appears to be another common ground for Sonoma County voters in the current debate over the nation’s immigration policy. Only 7 percent of poll respondents said that young immigrants brought into the country illegally and living in Sonoma County ought to be deported. An estimated 3,000 of those young immigrants are estimated to be living in Sonoma County.

Vicky Schneider, 46, of Petaluma, is among those who feel that undocumented immigrants are more of a burden than a benefit to the economy.

“They’ve gotten benefits because they are illegal and they have children, whereas I have been denied those benefits,” she said.

But when it comes to Dreamers and family separations, Schneider said “children are different.”

“I may be contradicting my other positions, but they don’t have the knowledge to even know what’s going on,” she said. “They were brought here by their parents. They never had the choice to say no.”

Schneider said “children should not be taken from their parents” and Dreamers should be allowed to ”stay and be granted citizenship. They didn’t have a choice and they didn’t have a voice as to whether they should come, so they shouldn’t be penalized.”

Clark, the Maria Carrillo graduate, agreed, saying immigrant children raised in the United States, whether here legally or not, are Americans.

“This is their home, this is where they’ve grown up,” she said. “Everything and everyone they know is here. And just because they were born in another place doesn’t make it their home. It’s like that saying - you don’t choose where you’re born but you choose where you’re from.”

Aldridge, the small business owner, said it was wrong to take away what was granted to Dreamers, who were allowed under an Obama-era policy - since challenged by Trump - to work legally and become “good citizens.”

“If they were here and were promised something they should be allowed to stay,” he said. “To me that doesn’t seem right because somebody else comes in and says, ‘I want to change that.’?”

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @renofish.