In DC, Ventura County sheriff hears from Trump's border czar on immigration crackdown
(This story was updated to include information about a video released on Feb. 7 by Sheriff Jim Fryhoff.)
Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff was in Washington, D.C., last week, where he heard from President Donald Trump's new border czar that the administration's immigration enforcement will focus, at least for now, on people with criminal records and no legal authorization to be in the country.
Fryhoff said he did not have time for an interview with The Star about the trip, and instead answered questions via email. He said he was in the nation's capital, along with Assistant Sheriff Victor Fazio, for the annual meeting of the Major County Sheriffs of America, which ran from Jan. 27-29. Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown is the group's president.
Also at the conference was Tom Homan, who led U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement during Trump's first term and was recently appointed to an advisory post the president described as "border czar."
Homan told the assembled sheriffs that the Trump administration plans to increase its efforts to deport undocumented immigrants from the United States.
Deportations already surged in the last year of Joe Biden's presidency. In 2024, ICE removed more than 271,000 noncitizens from the country, a 90% increase over the previous year and more than in any year of Trump's first term.
In the first weeks since Trump began his current term, ICE has announced more than 1,000 removals on some days, which would put it ahead of last year's pace.
Fryhoff said Homan told the sheriffs that "the initial efforts will be focused on criminal aliens. Then, they will prioritize other deportations based on national security."
ICE agents had a visible presence in Oxnard and other areas of Ventura County last week, while Fryhoff was in Washington, D.C. According to local police agencies and groups who track ICE operations, it appeared the agents were there to arrest specific people with criminal records or outstanding warrants. In other areas, though — including a month ago in Kern County — ICE agents reportedly detained people in a less targeted fashion.
ICE did not notify local law enforcement agencies ahead of time of its plans in Ventura County, but Oxnard police did get calls on the days that ICE agents were in town.
Fryhoff said he has asked to be notified "when ICE is operating in our area."
"They are not required to make such notifications; but since they are often operating in covert vehicles, we want to avoid any conflicts between law enforcement agencies," Fryhoff said.
Immigration enforcement is generally a federal matter, and in California, state law limits the extent to which local police agencies can help federal immigration agents. A state law passed in 2017 prohibits local law enforcement from assisting ICE, except to inform them of the jail release dates of immigrants convicted of or charged with certain serious crimes, including sex offenses, robbery, arson, assault with a deadly weapon, drug dealing, kidnapping and residential burglary.
In 2023, the Ventura County Sheriff's Office notified ICE about the release of 181 inmates, out of about 22,000 total county jail bookings, according to a presentation Fryhoff made to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors in October. That resulted in 43 inmates being picked up by ICE, up from 15 the year before.
In his email to The Star, Fryhoff said his office will "continue to operate the same way we have" when it comes to notifying ICE of inmate releases.
"Homan understands the rules that we in California abide by, as well as other states," Fryhoff said.
On Friday, Fryhoff released a video outlining his approach to immigration enforcement. In it, he emphasized that his deputies do not enforce immigration laws and do not cooperate with ICE, except to inform ICE of the release dates of inmates that are covered by the 2017 state law. No one is held in jail beyond their scheduled release to give ICE time to pick them up, he said.
"Beyond that, our deputies will not participate in any raids of any business or homes, hospitals, schools or churches," Fryhoff said. "I want our community members to feel safe to call us when they're the victim of a crime. If they believe that we’re going to do immigration enforcement, they're less likely to call us, and that just creates a pool of victims in our community, which we can't have."
Tony Biasotti is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tbiasotti@vcstar.com. This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation's Fund to Support Local Journalism.