During the annual Transparent Review of Unjust Transfers and Holds (TRUTH Act) forum, San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged 859 detainer requests for people booked into the San Joaquin County Jail in 2025, but only 77 of those requests were honored.
The sheriff, who held the forum at the June 2 San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors meeting, said about 9% of those requests were honored because the individuals met criteria established under the TRUTH Act for cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Withrow said there is a list of 24 criminal offenses or types of criminal history that allows the sheriff’s office to honor an ICE hold. The list includes murder, mayhem, rape, sodomy, oral copulation and lewd and lascivious acts. It also includes any felony punishable by death or life imprisonment in state prison, as well as any felony involving great bodily injury.
Other offenses include robbery, arson, sexual penetration, attempted murder, kidnapping, assault with intent to commit sexual assault of a child, carjacking and extortion. It also includes threats to victims and witnesses, burglary where there were people inside the home, first-degree burglary and rape where the victim was intoxicated or unable to give consent.
“These 77 people met that criteria,” Withrow said. “It also falls under their criminal history if they had any other criminal history that meets these, or they’ve been convicted of a thing that sends them to state prison. It’s very limited on which ones we can honor. These 77 guys that we honored were pretty bad people in our community.”
Several San Joaquin County residents who spoke during public comment expressed concerns about the impact of ICE enforcement on immigrant communities, while others said the sheriff’s report reassured them the county was limiting cooperation with federal authorities.
Retired Presbyterian minister Ellen Tanouye said she had worried the sheriff’s office was cooperating extensively with ICE but felt reassured after learning that only 77 of 859 detainer requests were honored.
“I was under the impression that our sheriff, who just spoke, could possibly be colluding with ICE,” Tanouye said. “He cleared it all up with his statistics and what he said so that made me feel so good.”
Christopher Anderson, president of the Stockton Teachers Association, said increased cooperation with ICE could discourage undocumented residents from reporting crimes or cooperating with law enforcement. He said many immigrant workers and families live in fear of deportation and urged county officials to protect vulnerable community members.
“The only thing that outmatches ICE’s cowardice is their lack of empathy, and we’ve seen that when they’ve been killing members of our community, when they’ve been roughing people up right here in our community at our ICE facility,” Anderson said. “People have been attacked just trying to make their voices heard.”
Nancy Gonzalez St. Clair, a Lodi resident and public school educator, cited data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonpartisan research center at Syracuse University, showing that ICE held more than 60,000 people in detention in California as of April 2026. More than 42,000 of them, or 70.8%, had no criminal conviction, according to the data.
“These are not just numbers,” Gonzalez St. Clair said. “They are fathers who tuck their children into bed at night. They are mothers working two jobs to support their families. They are the students pursuing their dreams. They are workers, neighbors, friends and members of our community. Behind every statistic is a human story, and that’s why we must reject the notion that deportation is simply an administrative process. Deportation separates families.”
Nikki Chan, who works with Southeast Asian refugee and immigrant communities in San Joaquin County, highlighted the case of a Stockton resident facing deportation after serving a lengthy prison sentence and questioned the cost of transferring 77 people to ICE custody.
“We urge the board of supervisors to keep the sheriff’s office accountable and continue to stop using county resources to aid in the separation of families and deportation of community members,” Chan said.
Chan also noted the sheriff’s request to the board of supervisors to allow him to enter into an agreement with Blue Titanium Media for the initial production season of a non-scripted, documentary-style television program tentatively titled “Untitled Jail Show.”
“If they can go on TV and do a whole TV show, they can also hold a separate community forum instead of using a board of supervisors meeting,” Chan said.
In response to public comment, Withrow said the law required the TRUTH Act forum be held each year, but sheriff’s officials can speak any time they are invited to events.
“I want our citizens to know, most of them I think are aware of this, but at any time we will go and speak at any type of association that they have or any place that they need us to come speak and talk about not just this topic but any topic,” Withrow told the board of supervisors. “We are more than happy to do that.”
Katie Piper, a public information officer for San Joaquin County, said the board has not discussed expanding future forums beyond the board chamber.
“The board values the input it receives from the community during public comment and public forums in the board chamber,” Piper said. “At this time, the board has not discussed expanding future forums at other locations. Since the TRUTH Act forum is a department presentation, the board will rely on department leadership (in this case the sheriff) to recommend the location.”
Record reporter Hannah Workman covers news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at hworkman@recordnet.com or on Twitter @byhannahworkman. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: San Joaquin County sheriff says ICE lodged 859 hold requests in 2025; 77 honored
Reporting by Hannah Workman, The Stockton Record / The Record
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By Hannah Workman, The Stockton Record | USA TODAY Network
