Nothing's Being Done in WDC - The Public Needs to Galvanize Opposing Policies
Beryl Flom | Published on 10/28/2026
Salvador Sarmiento, Attorney and Campaign Director, Legislative Affairs of the National Day Labor Organizing Network/NDLON spoke to the Immigration and Deportation Committee Meeting in October. NDLON works with day laborers to protect their rights.
Many people/Democrats focus on Comprehensive Immigration Reform and assume that it can be accomplished by Congress, but it will never happen. It is better to work locally and get lots of people supporting something so government is forced to change. Progress doesn't happen in Washington DC. Republican states usually use 287g agreements to allow their police to work with ICE agents. Even though CA is a Sanctuary State, Escondido and San Diego rent property to ICE for shooting practice and the SD Sheriff still hands over people coming out of jail to ICE. They say it is for public safety, but that's a cover-up. (Note: The Sheriff said she follows federal and state laws when handing over people to ICE.) The San Diego Board of Supervisors requested the Sheriff to stop access to ICE at the shooting range after a lot of public outcry. The public needs to speak up about policies they disagree with. Bills in Congress like the Registry bill won't get passed because Republicans want a trade-off, but we have to be careful not to throw people under the bus with a tradeoff. (Note: the Registry bill is sponsored by Sen. Alex Padilla and Zoe Lofgren of CA. In 1986, the Registry required someone applying for citizenship to live in the U.S. continuously since 1972. It has not been updated but there is quite a bit of support in Congress to adopt the current Registry bill which would require people to stay in the U.S. continuously during the last seven years.)
Politicians create terms that are not true but they catch on such as "border crisis" - there was no crisis even in Biden's term, but people still talk about it. Newsom signed several bills approved by the Legislature this year regarding immigration, but there is no enforcement provided. When the Sheriff does her annual report for the TRUTH Act, she admits to passing people over to ICE, but there is nothing to stop her. If ICE guns down someone, the SD Sheriff does not react. ICE has no oversight and can do anything they want. Since Sheriffs are elected, they do not need to report to the Co. Board.