Napa County to explore restricting immigration detention facilities in unincorporated area

Originally published in The Press Democrat 

By Edward Booth 

Napa County will explore restrictions on new or expanded immigration detention or correctional facilities in the unincorporated area following a referral at a Board of Supervisors meeting this week.

That move comes after a group of Bay Area and congressional leaders — led by Rep. Sam Liccardo, San Jose’s former mayor — earlier this month proposed a framework for Bay Area local governments that would set in place a temporary moratorium against the development of detention facilities used by ICE.

That pause could allow governments to tweak zoning and other laws to impose restrictions on how and where such facilities would be allowed, given that local governments can impose general health, safety, environmental and zoning restrictions on categories of building that could include detention centers.

Supervisor Joelle Gallagher made the referral to Napa County staff at the Tuesday, Aug. 26, supervisors meeting on behalf of the county’s ad hoc inclusion committee — consisting of her and Supervisor Belia Ramos — which she said has been discussing the issue with representatives from other Bay Area jurisdictions.

Gallagher called for staff to draft an ordinance that would establish “a temporary moratorium on the siting, construction, conversion or operation of new or expanded detention or correctional facilities” within the unincorporated county.

She said there was a need to move quickly to put such an ordinance in place, given that a pause would allow the county to “develop a comprehensive approach to regulating and mitigating impacts in terms of land use and also community impacts of these kinds of facilities.” She suggested a San Mateo County draft ordinance could serve as a starting point.

“It’s really, really important that if we’re looking at anything like a detention center that we consider the various policy implications,” Gallagher said.

The proposed temporary bans on new detention centers come amid the Trump administration’s sustained immigration enforcement operation, which led to 50,000 arrests nationwide in July, the highest monthly total in the president’s second term.