Sonoma County Sheriff Steve Freitas met with Attorney General-designate Jeff Sessions in Washington, D.C. this week in what he described as a fact-finding meeting to gauge the federal government’s positions on key law enforcement issues, including immigration.
Sen. Sessions, R-Alabama, is President Donald Trump’s pick for the nation's top lawman and slated to be confirmed tonight, has a reputation as a fierce opponent of immigration stands in contrast to the sanctuary-like positions adopted this week by Sonoma County supervisors and the Santa Rosa City Council.
Freitas said he supports Sessions’ nomination. He and about eight other California sheriffs spoke with the senator in a breakout meeting at an annual law enforcement conference drawing police chiefs and sheriffs from across the country.
“He reassured us, his commitment to us, is local law enforcement is really the expert on individual communities and local crime issues,” Freitas said in a phone call Wednesday. “If he’s confirmed, he said he wants to be our partner with us and help us keep our citizens safe.”
The conference was held by the Major County Sheriffs’ and Major Cities Chiefs associations. Freitas is on the board of directors of the California State Sheriff’s Association. The organizations have publicly backed Sessions’ nomination.
Democrat lawmakers oppose Sessions’ nomination arguing he has a questionable record on civil rights and voting rights issues.
Freitas said the group discussed a variety of issues including asset seizure, marijuana and immigration, as well as ways federal and local law enforcement can work together.
In Sonoma County, Freitas is facing pressure to further limit the ways the jail cooperates with U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement, or ICE, officers.
A county-appointed group working with the county’s law enforcement auditor, Jerry Theet, voted this week to urge Freitas to stop telling immigration officers when undocumented inmates are to be released, except for cases involving serious and violent felony crimes.
Threet, director of the Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach, said Freitas’ meeting with Sessions raised questions in his mind about how willing Freitas will be to change or limit ICE notifications. Threet said he will ask Freitas further questions next week when they are scheduled to meet.
“I’m likely to make a recommendation myself, and I’ve been led to believe there’s an opening to work on that” with the sheriff, Threet said.
Sessions served as Alabama’s attorney general and as a U.S. attorney before being elected to office in 1996. He has opposed nearly every immigration bill proposed to the senate since he was elected that included pathways to citizenship, but he has supported some guest worker programs, according to the Washington Post.
Freitas said he also met with other lawmakers, including Congressman Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena.
Check back for updates to this developing story.
You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 707-521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.
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