PRESS RELEASE - Yuba Liberation Coalition
Contact: Edwin Carmona-Cruz | 415-933-4922 | edwin[@]ccijustice.org
December 9, 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BREAKING: LAST ICE CONTRACT WITH A CALIFORNIA COUNTY JAIL TERMINATED
Advocates and supporters urge safe releases of the four people detained at the Yuba County Jail, instead of transfers
MARYSVILLE, CA – On Thursday, December 8, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed the termination of their Intergovernmental Service Agreement (IGSA) with the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department (YCSD) to hold individuals detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Yuba County Jail. The contract, which dates back to 1994, was the last contract between the federal agency and a county in California. There are currently four individuals detained in ICE custody at the Yuba County Jail.
“Directly impacted individuals, advocates and legal service providers have worked tirelessly for years to end the contract between ICE and the Yuba County Jail,” said the Yuba Liberation Coalition. “Today we proudly celebrate the end of a lucrative agreement that caused immense harm to our communities. We call for the immediate release of the remaining detained community members--we have depopulated the facility in the past without transfers and believe this is both possible and just.”
Yuba County Jail has operated under a federal-court-ordered consent decree since 1979 due to deficiencies in “medical and mental health care, staffing, grievances, and exercise and recreation.” Although the consent decree was amended due to minimal improvements in health and recreation conditions as well as disability access, recent reports by Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP (RBGG), the court-appointed monitor of the consent decree, consistently show that Yuba County Jail remains persistently non-compliant with numerous provisions of the Amended Consent Decree, particularly with regard to inadequate medical care.
Yuba County Jail’s repeated record of violations of human rights and failed facility inspections prompted the California Congressional Delegation, led by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren and Congressman Lou Correa, to send a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on October 21, 2021, urging the federal government to terminate its IGSA with the county jail.
“A part of me can finally be at peace knowing that the place where I spent the worst two years of my life is finally closing,” said Carlos Sauceda, member of the Yuba Liberation Coalition who was detained at the Yuba County Jail between 2017-2019. “Today is a day of victory for those of us who were detained at Yuba County Jail, for our families and for the advocates who have fought to make this possible.”
In 2018, after the state banned new contracts between local law enforcement and ICE, the government extended the IGSA with Yuba indefinitely, setting the date of expiration to the year 2099. The contract awarded the county jail located in Marysville, California over $8.6 million dollars of taxpayer money per year to detain individuals fighting their civil immigration cases.
The Yuba Liberation Coalition will continue to work to ensure that the remaining community members in ICE custody at the Yuba County Jail retain legal representation and are released to their communities instead of being transferred to another ICE facility.
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The Yuba Liberation Coalition, previously the #FreeTheYuba11 Coalition, began in April 2021. The coalition has two goals: release everyone detained at Yuba County Jail and end the contract between Yuba County and ICE. Members of the Yuba Liberation Coalition include, but are not limited to: ACLU of Northern California, California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, Carlos Sauceda, Faithful Friends, and Pangea Legal Services