Sheriff Bill Brown notified the Santa Barbara County supervisors he would not comply with their recent request to keep them appraised of any specifics relating to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities in Santa Barbara County. To do so, the Sheriff wrote, could be “construed as obstruction of justice under federal law.”
Brown had informed the supervisors that ICE officials did, in fact, contact his office in advance of ICE actions to let him know when immigration enforcement efforts were taking place within county jurisdiction. This is part of a policy known as “deconfliction,” in which federal agencies with law enforcement powers notify their local counterparts to minimize the potential for conflict and violence.
Brown made it clear in a memo he sent the Supervisors on October 14 he would not provide the supervisors any information relating to the number of federal actions, the dates, the locations “or other specifics relating to these operations.” The sheriff added, “Disclosing such information, either prospectively or retroactively, could interfere with ongoing federal prosecutions.”…