Alameda County launches committee to protect vulnerable residents from Trump policies

Supervisors Elisa Márquez (left) and Nikki Fortunato Bas address the public at the first convening of the Alameda County Together for All ad hoc committee at the county Administration Building on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. Credit: Roselyn Romero Credit: Roselyn Romero

In response to a barrage of executive orders signed by President Donald Trump aimed at immigrants, transgender people, and reproductive rights, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors has formed a committee to secure protections for community members whose civil rights and safety could be impacted.

The first public hearing of this committee — called Alameda County Together for All, or ACT for All — took place Thursday at the Alameda County Administration Building in Oakland.

“This ad hoc committee has a very clear purpose in terms of making sure that we are supporting and lifting up our communities, protecting the social services and health services the county provides, and making sure our community is prepared,” Nikki Fortunato Bas, chair of the ACT for All committee and county supervisor for District 5, told reporters at a press conference before the meeting.

The supervisors voted 4-0 on Jan. 28, with District 3 Supervisor Lena Tam excused, to create the committee.

Bas said the inspiration for establishing ACT for All stems from a prior county initiative, the Immigrant and Refugee Rights ad hoc committee, which was created in December 2016 by late supervisors Wilma Chan and Richard Valle to better protect immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. The committee’s work culminated in a 96-page report with recommendations for the Social Services Agency, Sheriff’s Office, and other county agencies.

“I was very clear on my first day when I was sworn in that [ACT for All] was gonna be a priority,” Bas said.

Similar to the Immigrant and Refugee Rights Committee, Bas said ACT for All will create a fund to support countywide initiatives, such as legal defense against deportations, and “back-fill” any gaps in services that might be stripped away by the Trump administration.

Fears of cuts or disruptions to health care, public health, education programs, social services, and more have grown during the first weeks of Trump’s second term, especially as Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency have attempted to slash federal spending.

District 2 Supervisor Elisa Márquez, vice chair of ACT for All, said since the Board of Supervisors’ regular meetings can last anywhere from six to 12 hours, it’s important to create a specific committee for these discussions.

“We want to make sure we have a dedicated time for our community to engage on these issues … and that we hear from our nonprofit partners and faith-based leaders,” Márquez said.

Moving forward, the committee will meet twice a month and hear updates from the sheriff’s office, the immigration unit of the Public Defender’s Office, and local advocacy groups and service providers.

Residents listen to Bas at the start of the first ACT for All committee meeting on Thursday, Feb. 6. Credit: Roselyn Romero

At the committee’s first hearing, Supervisors Bas and Márquez listened to an overview of ongoing and potential impacts of the Trump administration’s orders from county agencies and advocacy groups, including ACCESS Reproductive Justice, Centro Legal de la Raza, and the International Rescue Committee.

Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez reiterated that her office will follow state law and not assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement unless the federal agency presents a criminal warrant signed by a judge.

She said the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office still receives detainers from ICE for people being held at Santa Rita Jail, but the sheriff’s office does not honor those requests. Detainers are requests for a law enforcement agency to hold a person in custody to facilitate their transfer to ICE, notify ICE of a person’s release date and time, or transfer the person to ICE.

Sanchez said the sheriff’s office will not hold people arrested or detained for civil immigration matters at Santa Rita Jail. In the past, ICE contracted with several Bay Area sheriff’s departments to use their jail space to detain individuals for immigration enforcement.

Sergeant Roberto Morales, spokesperson for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, recently told The Oaklandside that the office “maintains a zero-contact policy” with immigration authorities. Per the agency’s General Order 1.24, a person’s immigration status or lack of immigration documentation “shall have no bearing on the manner in which [sheriff’s deputies] execute their duties.”

Law enforcement leaders have said for years that these policies are important and help them build trust with immigrant communities. Without trust, it’s harder to investigate and solve crimes as witnesses and others are fearful about coming forward or interacting with law enforcement.

Sanchez also discouraged people from spreading unconfirmed rumors about ICE raids in Alameda County due to the widespread panic they can cause. In recent weeks, said the sheriff, some people have confused large gatherings of law enforcement — say, during a narcotics investigation — with immigration raids.

“If you see our staff out there, it is not an immigration sweep or enforcement activity,” she said. “If ICE does conduct a sweep in our area, they’re not gonna tell local law enforcement. We’re not gonna know.”

At the meeting, the county also previewed the launch of a multilingual “Rapid Response Hotline” for people who witness or suspect ICE activity. The Alameda County Immigration Legal and Education Partnership — a coalition of legal, faith-based, and health nonprofits — originally established the Rapid Response Hotline during the first Trump administration. In recent years, ACILEP has “ramped down its activity” due to decreased detention risks and reduced funding.

Monique Berlanga, executive director of Centro Legal de la Raza, an Oakland-based legal services provider for low-income and immigrant residents and one of the member organizations of ACILEP, said ACILEP will re-launch the hotline on Monday.

Other speakers at the meeting provided context on the social and economic disparities that many LGBTQ+ people and immigrants in Alameda County face.

Joe Hawkins, founder and CEO of the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, said the county has failed to prioritize addressing the needs of LGBTQ+ residents for far too long.

“This is Alameda County’s first comprehensive look at LGBTQ issues,” he said. “It’s sad that this is the first time … but better late than never.”

Citing statistics from the Alameda County Public Health Department, Hawkins said between 2017 and 2020, gay and bisexual people reported higher rates of delayed or not-received health care compared to straight people.

Disparities are also evident in youth suicidal risk. From 2021 to 2023, almost 41% of transgender high school students and 30% of cisgender gay or bisexual high school students “seriously considered suicide” in the past 12 months, compared with 8.5% of cisgender, straight high school students.

LGBTQ+ Alameda County residents have higher rates of poverty and housing insecurity than straight, cisgender people. Transgender people, Hawkins added, are disproportionately impacted by sexual violence — including commercial sexual exploitation — and physical violence compared to straight people.

“Racism, anti-Blackness, xenophobia, homophobia, and transphobia are causing a severe and deadly intersection of harm for LGBTQ people in the United States — even here in the liberal Bay Area,” he said.

Access to abortion is another concern for Alameda County residents and people coming to California from states that have limited abortion rights. Jessica Pinckney Gil, executive director of Oakland-based ACCESS Reproductive Justice, said that between July 2023 and June 2024, ACCESSRJ helped nearly 3,000 people receive an abortion, roughly half of whom came from out of state. That’s a sharp increase from before the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, when 20% of ACCESSRJ clients were from outside California.

Next steps for the Board of Supervisors

Bas and Márquez asked the Board of Supervisors to fund $3.5 million in rapid response, emergency services, and legal support for immigrants and refugees. This funding proposal will be forwarded to the full board for consideration and a vote on Feb. 18.

Alameda County Public Defender Brendon Woods told the supervisors that his office’s immigration unit has growing needs, including hiring more attorneys to ensure people have due process if they’re detained by ICE or go to court.

One of the biggest challenges facing the Immigration Unit is the Laken Riley Act, a bill Trump signed last week that requires federal authorities to detain migrants arrested or charged with nonviolent crimes like shoplifting or violent crimes. Many immigrants’ rights advocates say the measure essentially strips due process for migrants, including minors and recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

“It feels like in the first two weeks, there’s been more chaos, harm, and trauma than there was in [Trump’s] first four years,” Woods said.

During a recent “know your rights” presentation at a local high school, Woods said he answered dozens of questions about criminal law and legal protections for immigrants — but, for the first time, he couldn’t answer a young girl’s question about her parents’ future in the U.S.

“Her question was, ‘My parents are not here legally. They don’t have papers. If they get deported, will they deport me, too?” he said.