: Written by: Ruth Dusseault/Bay City News; Published: 12 March 2026

photo credit: screenshot from livestream/County of Marin
Curt Ries with the Marin Democratic Socialists of America
addresses members of the Marin County Sheriff Department and the
Marin County Board of Supervisors at the TRUTH Act Community Forum
in San Rafael on March 10, 2026.

The Marin County Sheriff spoke directly with his critics and county officials Tuesday as the Board of Supervisors and activists met with him to discuss the county's involvement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The event reflected how one blue-state county is processing the anxiety caused by the Trump administration's recent immigration crackdown in Minnesota.

By the end of the three-hour meeting, supervisors hinted at future policy changes, including the way the county shares the identities of people booked in and out of jail.

The county session was required under California's Transparent Review of Unjust Transfers and Holds Act, or the TRUTH Act. Enacted in 2018, the act requires an annual forum to publicly disclose and explain any qualifying cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE during the previous year.

It is considered a companion to the California Values Act, Senate Bill 54, which limits state and local resources from being used to carry out immigration detentions and deportations.

Sheriff Jamie Scardina reported that 23 individuals in 2025 were referred to ICE, compared with 14 in 2024. Of those arrests, only four were made by the Marin County Sheriff's Office. Twelve were made by the San Rafael Police Department, with the rest of the arrests done by other regional law enforcement agencies. All were male, with 21 being Hispanic and two Asian.

The comments from supervisors and the public were tinged with a fear that the county could be the target of another federal enforcement surge.

"We are not prepared," said Lisa Bennett, who runs the Marin Rapid Response Network, a 24-hour hotline that dispatches legal observers and resources to support immigrants under the threat of federal immigration raids. "In preparing for this meeting, I dusted off my Truth Act Forum talking points, and I went back to 2018. Unfortunately, nothing has changed."

Bennett was one of a group of anti-ICE activists who attended several previous board meetings.

On Tuesday, they crowded into a line behind the speaker's podium, waved handmade signs and repeated their list of demands: stop participating in a federal State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, or SCAAP, which reimburses law enforcement agencies for holding certain immigrant detainees; stop publicly revealing the names of people booked into jail, and stop all compliance with ICE requests unless they have a judicial warrant.

Several California jurisdictions have already taken similar steps. San Francisco modified its public jail logs so that users must have either the person's name, booking number or jail ID number, rather than showing the public the entire roster of inmates. Sheriff's departments in Los Angeles and Santa Cruz counties have also stopped participating in the federal assistance program.

In February, County Executive Derek Johnson announced that Marin County has cut federalSCAAP funding from its upcoming budget.

"We just need to hear from our elected officials that they are actually making a proactive decision to do it, and it won't just come right back in two years," said Curt Ries, co-chair of the Marin Democratic Socialists of America. "ICE should not be trusted, regardless of whether it's a Democrat or a Republican in the white House. We cannot trust this agency."

Public speaker Florencia Parada, an immigrant living in Novato, called in to testify how ICE practices are affecting the Latino community's sense of safety.

"Many residents have expressed fear and confusion when officers operate wearing masks and sometimes without clear identification," she said. "For families who already feel vulnerable, this creates anxiety rather than trust. Public safety should never feel anonymous or intimidating to the very people it means to protect. Right now, we're seeing fewer community members attending meetings and speaking up because they are afraid. Safety cannot exist where fear dominates."

Scardina said his office has limited interaction with ICE.

"We do not deport anyone," said Scardina. "Nor do we participate in any immigration sweeps, period. ICE may call our dispatch center and say that they are going to be at a particular location in unincorporated Marin County, and we will not go. If our communication center does get a notification from ICE that they're going to be an unincorporated county, that notification will make its way to me. I cannot remember the last time I got a notification that ICE was in unincorporated Marin County."

Scardina said that he has heard that ICE notifications are being made in other jurisdictions.

"That would lead me to believe if they were in unincorporated Marin County, they would be notifying us," he said.

He explained that the fingerprints and booking information for all individuals booked into the Marin County Jail are sent to the California Department of Justice, which shares the data with federal agencies. When ICE identifies someone in custody who may be undocumented, it can notify the jail. Marin received 141 notifications in 2025, he said. The Sheriff's Office then gets back to ICE only if a person's most recent charges meet the criteria for a serious or violent crime.
Violent offenses include a felony DUI where there was injury involved, felony theft, burglary, evading, cruelty to a child, false imprisonment, domestic violence, firearm offenses, robbery, kidnapping, sex crimes to include sodomy, rape and sexual battery, Scardina said.

"These are not low-level misdemeanors; these are serious and violent crimes," he said.

About whether his office is concerned with a person's immigration status, he was blunt.

"Deputies shall not inquire into an individual's immigration status for immigration enforcement purposes," Scardina said. "It's forbidden. It does not happen."

In his presentation, Scardina shared a data slide on the 23 individuals that were reported to ICE. It included the date of arrest, charges, arresting agency, county of residence and country of origin.

Supervisor Mary Sackett questioned why the data included people's country of origin if the Sheriff's Office supposedly doesn't ask people about their status.
"They are asked," said Scardina. "The arresting agency will take that information."

In her closing statements, Sacket said she was deeply concerned about the aggressive federal immigration tactics nationally.

She noted that in 2025, the county allocated $500,000 to immigration services, like rent subsidies, including $75,000 to the Marin Rapid Response Network.
"This morning, we did that again," Sackett said, referring to a second $500,000 allocation.

Both Sackett and Supervisor Dennis Rodoni showed interest in the Sheriff's Office changing the way it provides the public with a list of people who have been booked in jail. Currently, the names on that list are visible to anyone who goes to the Sheriff's Office website and selects "Currently in Custody."

Scardina said the county recorded more than 5,700 jail bookings in 2024, with 104 ICE notifications, about 2% of all bookings. In 2025, bookings rose to roughly 6,500, with a similar percentage of notifications.

Supervisor Eric Lucan asked whether the number of notifications has been trending upward through recent years, and Scardina confirmed that they are, attributing the rise to the higher number of bookings and the increased enforcement by the Trump administration.

Rodoni said he hopes the number of ICE notifications will eventually decline.

"My goal, representing probably the most immigrants in the county, is to get that number to zero," he said. "I think we all have a common goal to keep ICE out of Marin."