The mayor of a self-proclaimed sanctuary city in California issued a warning to illegal immigrants in the Oakland area over the weekend that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were preparing a raid.
Libby Schaaf released a statement Saturday to say she “learned from multiple reliable sources” that there could be a raid conducted by ICE in Oakland as early as the next day. She said the intention of the statement was to protect people and warn them, not to panic them.
Schaaf said she felt it was her “duty and moral obligation as mayor to give those families fair warning when that threat appears imminent,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
The mayor also warned Oakland citizens that it was against recently passed California law for business owners to assist ICE officers in immigration enforcement efforts, and also now bans federal agents from accessing employee-only areas.
— Libby Schaaf (@LibbySchaaf) February 25, 2018
Her warning aligned with previous reports that Northern California police were not going to be cooperating with ICE agents to assist in the deportation of illegal immigrants living in the area.
After the mayor’s warning on Saturday of an impending ICE operation, at least four people were detained by federal agents on Sunday. It is unclear if the detentions, which were reported in Sacramento, Napa, and Monterey, were routine or part of the raid Schaaf warned about.
Schaaf said she would be willing to go to jail to defend the city’s status as a “sanctuary city,” which could be likely considering her actions could be a felony act.
Federal law states that if Schaaf is “knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, such alien in any place, including any building or any means of transportation,” she could be subject to a fine and up to five years in prison for each illegal immigrant she warned of a potential ICE raid.
