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Marin County supervisors have approved a new policy limiting the use of county facilities for immigration enforcement.

The supervisors directed County Executive Derek Johnson on Tuesday to take the necessary actions to implement the policy.

The policy will prohibit the use of county property for such purposes as staging operations or processing detainees, a county staff report said. The policy will forbid county employees from disclosing personal information obtained through applications for county benefits or programs.

The new rules will require county employees to report any interactions with immigration authorities to the county executive within 24 hours. In addition, beginning in January, the policy will require the sheriff and the chief probation officer to provide a monthly report to the county counsel describing any communications with federal immigration authorities.

“I look forward to working with your board on the implementation of this policy,” said Marin County Sheriff Jamie Scardina.

More than 40 people spoke in opposition to the policy, asserting that only an ordinance could effectively deter federal immigration authorities from making arrests in Marin.  A group of Marin residents led by the Marin Democratic Socialists of America wrote its own ordinance and submitted it to supervisors.

“This is the 11th meeting we have attended over the last year urging you to take the strongest possible action within your control to keep our community safe from ICE,” said Curt Ries, co-chair of the organization.

Patty Hoyt said, “A policy is not the same as an ordinance. A policy does not impact the open booking log. A policy does not require the sheriff to do diddly squat, but an ordinance can.”

Susan Deluxe said, “There’s a conspicuous absence of any meaningful info about how your policy regulates and reins in the sheriff, specifically the booking log.”

In addition to limiting the access of immigration authorities to county facilities, advocates for an ordinance want to prevent the sheriff’s office from posting the county jail booking log online. Their aim is to make it more difficult for immigration authorities to arrest undocumented people when they are released from custody.

According to the Marin Rapid Response Network, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took two Marin residents into custody on Tuesday, one outside the jail and the other in Novato. That makes 62 Marin residents who have been arrested by ICE since March 2025, including 42 this year. Since last year, 16 Marin residents have either been deported or returned to their home country after being detained.

In the past, Scardina has resisted making changes to the booking log procedure, but during his comments Tuesday, he said he supported an effort to “reexamine and refine our booking log access” as part of a larger upgrade of the department’s record management system.

“Our team will soon understand how we can strengthen booking log access as we more closely approach the go-live date in spring of 2027,” he said.

Scardina sought to assure the public that he is complying with state law limiting local law enforcement cooperation with ICE to undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of a serious or violent crime.

“I want every person who lives in this county to know they can call us when they are a victim of a crime,” Scardina said. “Our deputies do not enforce federal immigration law.”

“No one should mistake our commitment to public safety for indifference to the fear some families are experiencing,” he said. “We can be compassionate, and we can still be accountable.”

Many members of the audience turned their backs to the sheriff while he was speaking.

One speaker at the meeting urged the supervisors to reject both a policy and an ordinance.

“Policy or ordinance, this proposal should be shelved,” said James Holmes of Larkspur. “Prioritize public safety please, not protecting illegal immigrants. Information about benefit users should be shared, so scarce county resources don’t go to those not entitled to get them.”

County Counsel Brandon Halter told supervisors the policy they were adopting would be just as enforceable as an ordinance, and staff said it would be quicker and easier to implement.

Johnson said, “We reviewed approaches taken by other jurisdictions. If our review had identified additional legally defensible measures that demonstrated meaningful protections, we would have recommended them.”

The supervisors voted unanimously to approve the policy.

“This is an immediate step as a policy that we can take today,” said Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters. She and Supervisor Dennis Rodoni served on a board subcommittee to review the county’s options.

Rodoni said, “We must be honest about what this policy can and cannot do. Neither this resolution nor any local ordinance can stop ICE from coming to Marin. If anyone has told you otherwise, you have been misled. Real change to federal immigration enforcement must come from Washington, D.C.”

Both Moulton-Peters and Supervisor Mary Sackett said they hope to see changes in the booking log sooner.

“I want to ask that the booking log issue be addressed as soon as possible, ideally before spring,” Sackett said, “even if that means putting an interim measure in place while the new technology is brought online.”

Addressing the advocates for an ordinance, Supervisor Eric Lucan said, “Let’s remember why we’re all here. We’re here to support our immigrant community. There’s a lot more that binds us together in this commitment than divides us. I truly think that we are stronger together.”