The San Diego County sheriff says her office will not change its practices with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after the county’s board of supervisors moved to further restrict that cooperation ahead of the Trump administration taking office next year.

“The sheriff’s office will not change its practices based on the board resolution and policy that was passed at today’s meeting,” Sheriff Kelly Martinez’s office said in a statement. “The board of supervisors does not set policy for the sheriff’s office. The sheriff, as an independently elected official, sets the policy for the sheriff’s office.”

The statement came after a 3-1 vote by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on a resolution to restrict ICE cooperation with local law enforcement.

CALIFORNIA COUNTY VOTES TO RAMP UP SANCTUARY POLICIES AHEAD OF TRUMP DEPORTATION PUSH: ‘RADICAL POLICY’ 

The resolution says the county will not provide assistance or cooperation to ICE, “including by giving ICE agents access to individuals or allowing them to use County facilities for investigative interviews or other purposes, expending County time or resources responding to ICE inquiries or communicating with ICE regarding individuals’ incarceration status or release dates, or otherwise participating in any civil immigration enforcement activities.”

When ICE is aware of suspected illegal immigrants in local or state custody, it will file a detainer with law enforcement, typically requesting that the agency is notified ahead of the suspected illegal immigrants’ release and, in some cases, that they be held until ICE can take custody of them.

ICE says this helps detain illegal immigrants without having to go into communities and gets illegal immigrant offenders off the streets. Sanctuary proponents say that such policies chill cooperation between law enforcement and otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants.

BLUE STATE COUNTY TEES UP VOTE ON ‘KNEE-JERK’ RESOLUTION TO PROTECT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM DEPORTATION

“When federal immigration authorities, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Border Patrol coerce local law enforcement to carry out deportations, family members are separated and community trust in law enforcement and local government is destroyed,” an overview of the resolution claims. 

“Witnesses and victims who are undocumented or who have loved ones who are undocumented are afraid to come to the County for help, which includes calling local law enforcement. This puts the public safety of all San Diegans at risk.”

Proponents of the resolution say California’s sanctuary law has too many loopholes and still allows agencies to notify ICE of release dates and transfer some individuals into their custody.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

It was a claim with which Martinez disagreed.

Thomas Homan, the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, speaks during a Department of Homeland Security press conference to announce end-of-year numbers regarding immigration enforcement, border security and national security Dec. 5, 2017, in Washington, D.C.  (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

“As the sheriff of San Diego County, my No. 1 priority is protecting the safety and well-being of all residents of our diverse region. While protecting the rights of undocumented immigrants is crucial, it is equally important to ensure that victims of crimes are not overlooked or neglected in the process,” she said.

The San Diego County Sheriff is a nonpartisan office, but Martinez has identified as a Democrat personally.

“Victims include undocumented individuals. These vulnerable individuals express to me that their legal status is used as a weapon against them when offenders from their community victimize them,” she said. “We must protect the well-being of individuals, including those who are undocumented, which requires a careful approach that upholds the principles of justice, fairness and compassion for all individuals involved.”

It comes ahead of what is expected to be a historic mass deportation campaign by the incoming Trump administration. Incoming border czar Tom Homan has said no one is off the table when it comes to deportations, although public safety threats will be the priority.

VIDEO HERE

Outgoing Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen said that she’s “concerned about fiscal sustainability” and thinks the deficit must be decreased.

She made the comments during the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit after Greg Ip, chief economic commentator for the outlet, noted that President Joe Biden and Yellen are leaving behind a big budget deficit. “Are you sorry you couldn’t make more progress on that?” he asked. Ip also asked Yellen how much risk the issue presents to the economy.

“Well I am concerned about fiscal sustainability. And I am sorry that we haven’t made more progress. I believe that the deficit needs to be brought down, especially now that we’re in an environment of higher interest rates,” Yellen replied. 

BIDEN SAYS TRUMP INHERITING ‘STRONGEST ECONOMY IN MODERN HISTORY,’ SLAMS TARIFF PLAN AS ‘MAJOR MISTAKE’ 

Yellen helmed the Treasury Department during President Joe Biden’s White House tenure, but will soon step down as Biden’s term ends next month.

In that time, the already-massive national debt continued soaring to new heights, and has now surpassed $36 trillion.

“Today, the U.S. economy is in strong shape, with a robust labor market and solid economic growth. Tune in as I join @Greg_Ip at the @WSJ CEO Council Summit to discuss the economic progress we have made under the leadership of @POTUS and @VP,” Yellen declared in a post on X.

US NATIONAL DEBT HITS A NEW RECORD: $36 TRILLION

Yellen talks to reporters during a news conference at the Treasury Department on Oct. 22, 2024, in Washington, D.C.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Trump decisively defeated Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential contest, winning both the Electoral College and the popular vote.

The president-elect tapped Scott Bessent to serve as Treasury Department secretary in his upcoming administration.

“Scott is widely respected as one of the World’s foremost International Investors and Geopolitical and Economic Strategists,” Trump said in a statement last month.

YELLEN TOUTS IRS ENFORCEMENT AS HELPING CLOSE THE BUDGET DEFICIT

Yellen gives remarks at an event celebrating the Community Development Financial Institutions FUND (CDFI) at the U.S. Treasury Department on Nov. 21, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Yellen previously served as chair of the Federal Reserve Board of governors from early February 2014 through early February 2018.

Harmeet Dhillon — one of California’s most prominent Republican Party operatives, a cultural crusader against “woke” politics and a fervent champion of President-elect Donald Trump — was named Monday by Trump to a top civil rights post in the U.S. Department of Justice.

If confirmed, Dhillon would be the second woman to lead the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, following President Biden’s choice of longtime civil rights lawyer Kristen Clarke. The office is tasked with enforcing federal civil rights laws across a wide swath of American life.

A frequent commentator on conservative media, Dhillon has long been one of the most charismatic figures in the California GOP. She made an unsuccessful but closely watched play for Republican National Committee chair in 2023.

“Harmeet Dhillon is very conservative and hardly a champion of civil rights as it is generally understood,” legal scholar and UC Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky said by email Tuesday. “She was very active in challenging COVID restrictions. She has filed suits when conservatives claim their speech was restricted. She has challenged protection of transgender students. But there is nothing in her record about fighting discrimination based on race or sex or sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Dhillon has been an ardent defender of Trump and represented him in some of his legal cases. Some of her other high-profile cases include that of California teen Chloe Cole, a right-winger who has emerged as a face of the “detransition” movement, and failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.

“Throughout her career, Harmeet has stood up consistently to protect our cherished Civil Liberties, including taking on Big Tech for censoring our Free Speech, representing Christians who were prevented from praying together during COVID, and suing corporations who use woke policies to discriminate against their workers,” Trump said in a statement.

Dhillon declined to speak for this article when reached by phone Tuesday.

Priorities in the Justice Department change under every administration, but Dhillon running the department’s Civil Rights Division would mark a particularly strong contrast to the Biden era.

“This is one of those situations where elections really matter: It’s not just the attorney general, it’s all of these other high-powered positions within the Department of Justice that really set the policy. Because when it comes to laws, the story doesn’t begin and end with passing a law — it’s about which laws to bring suits under, it’s about which laws you’re going to make a priority to enforce,” said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School.

Levinson said that, for example, Americans would probably see fewer suits brought under the Voting Rights Act in a Dhillon-run civil rights office.

“There’s nothing meek or mild or moderate about Harmeet Dhillon,” said Jon Fleischman, a Republican campaign strategist and former executive director of the California GOP who praised the appointment. “The same street fighter that wanted to be the chairman of Republicans in ultra-liberal San Francisco is going to take on the liberal establishment of the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department.”

Dhillon was born in India and raised in rural Northern California. Her ascent in Republican Party politics began in San Francisco, where she has long lived and first served as chair of the local chapter of the GOP. She later rose to the No. 2 position in the state party and still represents California on the Republican National Committee.

She also founded the nonprofit Center for American Liberty in 2018, which advocates “against anti-free speech and anti-civil liberties trends,” according to the organization’s website.

Some civil rights advocates sharply criticized Trump’s choice.

“It’s petrifying. She is about as extreme a choice as you could have for this role,” said Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Los Angeles), an attorney with a long background in environmental law and LGBTQ+ civil rights advocacy. “Having her in charge of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is just astonishing, given her long history of opposition to everything that the division is charged with protecting.”

In the past, Dhillon has also taken flak from conservative activists because she donated to Vice President Kamala Harris in a San Francisco district attorney race and once served on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Bay Area chapter. Dhillon has said that Harris was the more conservative of the candidates in the district attorney’s race and that she got involved in the ACLU after some Sikhs faced abuse in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Times staff writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report.