SANTA ROSA — Sonoma County Sheriff Robert Giordano is firing back against accusations by a top U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official that he refused to cooperate with the agency and hold an undocumented immigrant who now stands accused of setting fire to a Sonoma Valley park in the midst of the deadly Wine Country infernos.
Jesus Fabian Gonzalez was arrested Sunday, a week after numerous firestorms broke out across the region, on felony arson charges. He told deputies he set the fire at Maxwell Farms Park to keep warm, Giordano said in a post on the sheriff’s office’s Facebook page Thursday. The sheriff noted that the causes of the conflagrations that have killed at least 42 people and destroyed thousands of homes are still under investigation.
“We don’t know if these fires were arson or caused by another source,” Giordano said. “There is no indication that Gonzalez had anything to do with these fires and it appears highly unlikely.”
In a statement Wednesday, ICE acting director Thomas Homan said the sheriff’s office, through its refusal to cooperate with the federal agency, has left the public “vulnerable to dangerous individuals and preventable crimes.” More specifically, over the past year, the sheriff’s office reportedly did not honor its requests to hold Gonzalez following four separate arrests in Sonoma County on various criminal charges.
“This is especially troubling in light of the massive wildfires already devastating the region,” said Homan, appearing to link Gonzalez to the wildfires.
“The residents of Sonoma County, and the state of California, deserve better than policies that expose them to avoidable dangers,” he continued. “Non-cooperation policies — now enshrined in California state law — ensure only one thing: criminals who would otherwise be deported will be released and left free to re-offend as they please.”
Homan said Gonzalez has been returned to his home country of Mexico on two separate occasions.
Last week, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a “sanctuary state” bill that limits communication between police officers and immigration agents about people detained by police or in jail awaiting trial. Exceptions include those who have been convicted of at least one of hundreds of serious crimes within the past 15 years and suspects in serious crimes punishable with prison time for which a judge has found probable cause.
ICE on Monday asked the sheriff’s office to once again hold Gonzalez for 48 hours past his scheduled release time. Because the so-called administrative detainer was not signed by a judge, the sheriff’s office could not legally honor it, said Giordano, who pointed to a number of court cases that have found administrative detainers are unconstitutional.
“If ICE obtains a warrant I can legally hold the person,” he said, “and would be happy to do so.”
Regardless of the federal agency’s request, Gonzalez is being held on $200,000 bail and will face his arson charge in Sonoma County, Giordano said. Gonzalez, who was arraigned Thursday, also is being held on a $100,000 misdemeanor drug warrant issued in Ventura County and will be transferred there once the arson case has been resolved.
Giordano also disputed Homan’s claims that the sheriff’s office had not notified ICE when Gonzalez was released from jail in the past. He said Gonzalez has been jailed eight times for minor misdemeanor offenses in Sonoma County, and until a recent change in policy, the sheriff’s office had looped in the federal agency when he was released.
“We will continue to notify ICE if it complies with law and our policy,” Giordano said.
In a follow-up statement, Homan maintained that the sheriff’s office did not contact ICE when Gonzalez was released from jail.
“As the sheriff’s office knows, there is currently no legal barrier that restricts their ability to simply call ICE to provide notice of the release of a criminal alien such as Gonzalez, which they failed to do following his previous multiple arrests on felony and misdemeanor charges,” Homan said. “Doing so would have allowed ICE to remove a public safety threat from the community and prevented the diversion of limited resources to an avoidable crime when they should be focused on fire recovery.”
Giordano called Homan’s original statement “misleading” and characterized it as an attack on his office.
“ICE attacked the sheriff’s office in the midst of the largest natural disaster this county has ever experienced,” Giordano said. “Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated, many people have lost their homes, and 23 people have died in this firestorm.”
“Despite ICE’s misleading statement, we will continue to protect and serve our community members with the strength and compassion they deserve,” he continued. “I hope to end this senseless public confrontation with these facts so that I may focus on the fire recovery.”
