Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood was a guest on “The Ralph Bailey Show” today to discuss his appearance in front of the Kern County Board of Supervisors to urge the board to reject any suggestion of making the county a sanctuary county.
Youngblood has touched off a ferocious debate about whether Kern County should be a sanctuary county or a law and order county, but the Supervisors have considered taking up either measure. In fact, the Kern County Counsel had rejected the notion of a resolution supporting the “law and order county” status.
“I felt like the board should have the opportunity to hear what my proposal was,’’ Youngblood told host Ralph Bailey.
During the morning session of the Board’s meeting, Supervisor David Couch made a proposal to consider the “law and order county” status, but that motion died due to a lack of a second motion. Supervisor Mick Gleason motioned to consider asking county staff to draft a resolution that would have the county oppose Senate Bill 54, which would make California a sanctuary state. That motion passed 4-1 with Supervisor Leticia Perez casting the opposing vote.
Youngblood’s appearance at the Board of Supervisors was the centerpiece of a fierce debate about immigration enforcement during the morning meeting.
That bill has passed the state Senate, but it still faces approval in the Democrat-controlled Assembly and signing by Gov. Jerry Brown. SB 54 would restrict state and local law enforcement on helping federal officials on immigration enforcement.
The bill has received fierce opposition from law enforcement, and especially Youngblood, whose office sent out a press release on Tuesday detailing the potential problems for law enforcement in Kern County if the bill should pass.
“In light of the concerns related to Senate Bill 54 and in an effort to provide Kern County residents with factual information regarding the types of individuals that would be released into our community if immigration authorities are not allowed in our jail as would be mandated by SB 54,” the release said.
From there, the Sheriff’s department detailed several examples of the type of criminals who would be released into the public if they could not cooperate with federal immigration officials.
