photo credit: Shandra Back/KRCB
Protesters lie on the pavement  as others hold signs spelling "ICE KILLS" outside the Sonoma County Farm Bureau in Santa Rosa.

Immigrant advocates staged a protest Monday outside the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, urging the organization to withdraw its support for the Sonoma County Sheriff's cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Staging a "die-in," about two dozen protesters lay motionless in the Farm Bureau parking lot, outlined in white chalk and decorated with flowers.

Organizers said the display represented immigrants who have died during encounters with the federal immigration system this year.

The demonstration targeted the Farm Bureau after it publicly supported the sheriff's cooperation with ICE this spring.

Sonoma County Sanctuary Coalition leader Renee Saucedo said the Farm Bureau's position is at odds with an agricultural industry that relies heavily on immigrant workers.

"We believe that it is shameful for a group of companies which employ immigrant workers and earn very high profits due to the immigrant workers' labor to be supporting a county policy which places immigrant workers in danger by handing them over to ICE," Saucedo said. 

The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office says its policy is to notify ICE before releasing some jail inmates convicted of qualifying crimes.

According to the Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach, or IOLERO, the county's independent sheriff watchdog, the Sheriff's Office has received 325 ICE notification requests this year, responded to 46 of them, and those responses resulted in 21 arrests by ICE.

Farm Bureau Executive Director Dayna Ghirardelli said the organization supports the sheriff's handling of serious criminal cases and is not advocating for broader ICE enforcement.

"For us, it's protecting our community. If we could deport citizens of the same nature, I would rather they be out of the country as well, but that's not an option," Ghirardelli said. "We really struggle trying to understand why anybody would defend and protect very heinous, egregious convicts who don't who are not citizens of the United States."

At Monday's protest, Sanctuary Coalition leaders announced the Farm Bureau has agreed to meet with the group after months of back-and-forth planning.

Ghirardelli confirmed the meeting but told KRCB News the organization does not plan to change its position.