Speaker: Eddie Meyer, Sr. Policy Advocate Advancing Immigrant Rights, ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties
Note: There are a lot of entries in the Chat and subsequent information emailed by Eddie.
Eddie thanked the LWVSD for their support on many issues over the years. He reminded the committee that he used to work for Rep. Juan Vargas and spoke to us many years ago. ACLU-SD works at the local level to build on what they are doing nationwide.
Regarding immigration, he quoted: “No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark” (Warsan Shire). At the national level ACLU works to defeat the Trump administration, opposes his anti-civil rights program, delays processes so they can’t start right away, defeats and dilutes. They are concerned about detention expansion, militarization of immigrant enforcement, increased and prevalent surveillance and data sharing, and reduction of civil liberties and due process. ACLU has partnerships at the national, state and local levels. The one big beautiful bill includes $45 billion for detention expansion, $30 billion for operation & enforcement and $18 billion/year for annual expenses. There is another new bill of $71 billion to add to this. The administration wants to expand 287g agreements. FL has the most and there are a few in CA. ACLU has filed 257 legal actions since January, 2025. The Supreme Court’s ruling on birthright citizenship should be announced in July 2026.
At the state level, ACLU is in coalition with groups working on civil liberties, due process, and limiting data sharing and harmful federal actions. The CA Values Act and other CA laws should serve as meaningful guardrails. There is concern about DHS obtaining data from CA DMV. However, in order for CA to comply with the Federal law on real I.D., they have to share that data. Last spring at their lobby day, the CA ACLU met with 4 legislators and others about four bills of concern:
- AB 1165, Housing Adjustment Act
- AB 2122, Ending Bench Warrants for Infractions which has the following improvements: Judges should consider immigration consequences, due process protection is strengthened, prosecutors are required to meet with the defense counsel, and these practices should apply evenly across the state.
- AB 2669, Due Process Safeguards (Gipson)
- AB 1105, Protect CA Rights Act (Perez) - protect civil liberties including racial; local agents should not be concerned with CA or Federal law enforcement, prohibits cooperation involving racial or i.d. profiling, criminalization of protected speech, unauthorized military activity.
Many national debates start in southern border cities before going nationwide. In San Diego County, they are working with Ice Out Now. ACLU is advancing due process protections, increasing transparency and accountability, responding to detention expansion, monitoring detention and deportation flights, and is concerned about the militarization of the border. Nearly 120 deportation flights left San Diego Co. in the last year. ACLU has developed a Due Process Fact Sheet and works with the cities and county to write ordinances. They are seeing heightened federal enforcement, expanded surveillance technology, and military style infrastructure in border communities. At the SD Co. Sheriff’s TRUTH Act meeting, there was a significant increase in transfers of immigrants from the Co. jail to ICE (83 people). 64% of them had no federal warrant. This occurred in spite of ACLU monitoring local law enforcement to ensure they conform to state laws. Local wins include a Community Safety and Due Process Resolution passed in Vista, a Good Neighbor Resolution passed in Chula Vista, a Community Safety and Due Process Resolution passed in San Diego, and a CLEAR/Civil Liberties Enforcement & Accountability Rules Ordinance passed in SD County. ACLU developed educational materials and worked to pass the last one which limits law enforcement access to County facilities, protects sensitive information, requires contractors to be in compliance and be transparent, allows participation in certain joint law enforcement operations, and provides local due process protections. The County has a program called Immigrant Legal Defense Program/ILDP whereby they provide pro-bono attorneys for people going through deportation proceedings at Otay Mesa Detention Center. It’s goal is to keep families together and help people succeed. They have blind selection of cases or first in/first out so they don’t favor cases they think are more likely to win. AB2900 would provide for this to be done state-wide. Oceanside has an ordinance being considered by their city council. Other municipalities are reaching out for help with doing this in their communities. ACLU also has a Reporting Hotline, 619-467-1663, where people can describe racial profiling, use of force, harassment, and warrantless stops or detention.
ACLU gathers this information which they might be able to use in future legal cases. They also do Habeas Corpus Trainings for Attorneys which is focusing on challenging unlawful detentions and rapid deportation processes. They do Community Rights Education with over 200,000 people joining their webinars. They also are educating people about the county budget and hoping to get more funding for ILDP. The San Diego County Board will have a hearing on 6/1 at 5:00 p.m. on it.
Discussion
- One member said she lives in N. Co. and sees that the Co. Sheriff is definitely assisting ICE. Eddie replied that she is elected and won’t abide by CLEAR. The Supervisors are trying to work with her because she is not in compliance.
- Eddie doesn’t know if someone is on the ground at all the airports monitoring deportation flights, but it’s easy to look at flight logs.
- Eddie is doing a presentation on detention later in the year, but meanwhile he will share the phone number to apply for ILDP.
- Have you been in touch with the CA District Attorney’s Association about AB 2669? They work on post-conviction relief because people are not properly advised about their plea agreement and are pushing this bill. Eddie will look into it.
- The public doesn’t realize how much is going on. We’ve reached public dumbing regarding ICE activities. ACLU is doing so much work on accountability but there needs to be more publicity about it. What is ACLU doing? How can the LWVSD help? I’m amazed that 16,000 people from San Diego have been deported in a year. Answer: ACLU is starting to post on instagram and blue sky. They are uplifting photos. Eddie said he started working at ACLU in December and is still familiarizing himself with all their work.
- Asked if ACLU is involved in forming Best Practices for the City in case ICE sends many agents to make arrests. Answer: They have contacted Minneapolis to learn from their experience. San Diego County Supervisor, Terra Lawson Remer has ICE Out of SD meetings monthly and they talk about it.
- ACLU supports SB1095 which has to do with Fusion centers in CA like SANDAG sharing data with the Feds.
- Who are the local partners with ICE? UCSD has a contract to monitor the coastline, but it’s not a 287g agreement. Escondido has a law enforcement shooting range that ICE uses. Both these organizations are paid by ICE.
- According to KPBS, there is a foundation in Imperial County that leases out detention centers. Answer: Eddie will look into it.
Committee Information
LWV of San Luis Obispo is doing a meeting on 6/3 at noon titled, “ICE and the Law
Rights, Limits and Accountability. Register on their website.
The meeting notes for the April committee meeting were approved as emailed.
Beryl will add Eddie’s information to the Best Practices document. It needs links and
translation. Things the County is doing also need to be added.
Next Meeting
Thursday, June 11 at 9:00 a.m. on zoom. (Beryl has just arranged for Andrea Guerrero, CEO of Alliance San Diego) to speak.
Selected Chat:
Hi everyone. I’m Glenn Silloway with LWV San Luis Obispo County. Nice to meet you! fyi, we are producing a webinar on immigration law and ICE on June 3, link here: https://lwvslo.org/content.aspx?page_id=4091&club_id=188423&item_id=2960378
Jane Andrews
https://aclucalaction.org/
Kim Knox
The LWV of California also strongly supports SB 1105 (Pérez) – Law Enforcement Officers
AB 2600 Bonta https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB2600
Reporting ICE arrest: https://humanrightsfirst.org/ice-flight-monitor/ - monthly reports. https://deportationflights.com/ - realtime
paul burke on Chumash ancestral land
Do you have any feedback on https://TurnSignl.com and https://Attorney-Shield.net? They both offer subscription to call up lawyer on video in case of police stops, not long term representation
Ann Mendelson
Really like Beryls drafted check list on response to ICE incursion
Eddie Meyer (He/Him/His) ACLU-SDIC
Report Federal Law Enforcement Abuse to the ACLUF-SDIC
The ACLUF-SDIC is tracking and investigating unlawful conduct by federal immigration agents in San Diego and Imperial counties both against people lawfully exercising First Amendment rights and against people otherwise detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Border Patrol and other federal law enforcement agencies.
This confidential legal intake is conducted for the purpose of evaluating and documenting misconduct or unlawful actions by U.S. Border Patrol, ICE and other federal agents.
Call the hotline:
- San Diego County: 619-467-1663
Imperial County: 760-645-9335
Complete the form: intake.aclu-sdic.org/ice
Printable flyers | English, Spanish
Mona Pastor. LWVNCSD
I just found SD RRN Number is 619-536-0823
Eddie Meyer (He/Him/His) ACLU-SDIC
Immigrant Defenders Rapid Response Legal Resource Hotline
This rapid response legal resource hotline is for Southern California community members who have been detained by immigration enforcement agents.
Number: 213-833-8283
Monday-Friday | 9am-4pm
San Diego County Immigrant Legal Defense Program (ILDP)
ILDP seeks to connect people in deportation proceedings to a free attorney. It is available for people who are detained or in "alternative to detention" status in San Diego County or have ties to San Diego County.
Contact Info:
- Main Number: 619-446-2883
Number for people detained at Otay Mesa Detention Center: 1157# (free to dial)
When calling, be prepared to provide information about the person you are calling about, including their name, date of birth, detention A#, expected immigrant defense issue (i.e. asylum, criminal conviction removal, suspension of deportation, etc.), and other information regarding the case.
Mary N San Diego
Brawley Community Foundation
https://www.kpbs.org/news/border-immigration/2026/05/13/california-calls-this-company-a-charity-its-the-landlord-for-an-ice-detention-center