Dive Brief:

• The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday issued requests to sheriffs in major California counties on Thursday seeking lists of all inmates in their jails who are not U.S. citizens, their crimes of arrest or conviction and their scheduled release dates.

• The Justice Department “will pursue all available means of obtaining the data, including through subpoenas or other compulsory process,” the Justice Department stated.

• Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Thursday in a press conference that his staff would review the letter “to see what information, if any, we can legally provide,” but “there may be a conflict between state law and federal law.”

Dive Insight:

California Senate Bill 54, signed by the governor in 2017, prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from using resources for federal immigration enforcement. “A law enforcement official shall have discretion to cooperate with immigration authorities only if doing so would not violate any federal, state, or local law, or local policy,” the law states.

Los Angeles prohibits city resources from being utilized for immigration enforcement or for cooperation with federal immigration agencies. Earlier this month, Los Angeles joined seven other cities in asking a federal judge to block ICE raids in their cities.

In complying with state, county and city “sanctuary” laws, Luna said, “we do not honor ICE detainers or requests for transfers.” 

“We do not allow immigration officials to operate within our facilities,” he said. “And we do not permit use of county property, databases or personnel by ICE.”

The department received 995 non-binding civil detainer requests from ICE in 2024 and 435 so far in 2025, Luna said, but it “did not comply with any of them because that would violate both state law and county policy.” 

“We will only transfer an individual into ICE custody if we are presented with a federal judicial warrant that’s signed by a judge,” Luna said. The department transferred 20 individuals under those circumstances in May and June, he added.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin accused California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of caring “more about violent criminal illegal aliens than they do about protecting their own citizens.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement on Thursday that she looks forward “to cooperating with California’s county sheriffs to accomplish our shared duty of keeping Californians and all Americans safe and secure.”

Luna said he is “committed to getting violent people off our streets” but added, “This isn’t the ice cream vendor or the lady making tacos on the street — this is somebody who has committed a violent or serious crime.