Amador County Sheriff Gary Redman waded into a bit of controversy this year when he openly said he would buck a California law that limits cooperation between local and federal authorities. Citing his duty to enforce public safety in his rural county located 135 miles east of San Francisco, Redman remains the only sheriff in the state who has pledged to defy California’s 2017 sanctuary state law, also known as the California Values Act, or SB 54.
More specifically, Redman said he will contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when he’s aware that a person in local custody is in the country illegally and poses a serious public safety threat. “It’s almost [like] we’re going to re-victimize the victim again. That’s what I see with this law,” Redman told Fox News Digital. “How can you tell me that I have to let somebody who is here illegally in the country … and put them back into society when they’ve committed a heinous crime?”
“You’re making me make that choice. Well, I’m just not willing to do it because I got elected to be the sheriff of Amador County, where public safety is my No. 1priority,” he added.
The vow goes against SB 54, which allows local authorities to contact ICE only when an illegal immigrant is convicted of certain offenses and is about to be released from custody. State lawmakers passed the law during the first Trump administration in an effort to ensure that local law enforcement is not used to assist immigration officials.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), various immigrant rights groups, the Amador County and statewide Republican and Democratic parties, and the governor’s office for comment on the matter.
“I worked in the justice system for years and saw how weak laws put the public in danger,” California Republican Party Chair Corrin Rankin told Fox News Digital. “What we’re hearing from Sheriff Redman is what many in law enforcement have been saying for a long time: California’s sanctuary state law makes it harder to stop violent criminals.”
“Democrats in Sacramento passed these laws knowing they tie the hands of sheriffs and police. When local officials see a threat, they should be able to act,” Rankin added. Around 6% of Amador County’s 42,000 residents are foreign-born, according to U.S. Census data. Despite the low figure, Asian gangs with illegal immigrants have set up marijuana-growing operations in the area, Redman said.
“That’s what we dealt with over the last 10 years,” Redman said. The sheriff announced his stance on the sanctuary state law in a February news release posted to the Amador County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page in response to persistent questions from residents about how his office would handle immigration-related matters during President Donald Trump’s second term.
While other sheriffs across the state have said they will work around SB 54, Redman’s announcement is different in that he makes it clear that he knows he will violate state law. That has put him in the crosshairs of the California Attorney General’s Office.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta has pledged to protect immigrant communities up and down the state by upholding SB 54, despite detractors pointing out that it allows criminal illegal immigrants to walk the streets and possibly reoffend, sometimes violently.
In an email to Fox News Digital, Bonta’s office noted that federal courts have ruled that the state sanctuary law doesn’t conflict with federal law. “The Attorney General is committed to protecting and ensuring the rights of California’s immigrant communities and upholding vital laws like SB 54, which ensure that state and local resources go toward fighting crime in California communities, not toward federal immigration enforcement,” the email states.
“Federal courts have upheld SB 54 and have found it to not be in conflict with federal law (the Ninth Circuit’s 2019 opinion is attached for reference),” his office said. “We are closely monitoring law enforcement compliance with SB 54.”
Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., who recently introduced federal legislation that would enable local authorities that wish to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement to do so regardless of any state law, cited the case of David Mora, 39, who overstayed his visa after entering California in 2018 from Mexico.
In 2022, ICE asked to be notified upon Mora’s release from jail after his arrest for assaulting a California Highway Patrol officer. The Merced County Sheriff’s Office had Mora in custody and received a request from ICE to detain him, but Mora was released because of the sanctuary law, the sheriff’s office said.
He then killed his three daughters inside a Sacramento church as well as a chaperone who was supervising his visit with the children, before taking his own life. “There is no doubt in my mind that if I was able to cooperate with ICE, this tragedy could have been avoided,” Merced County Sheriff Vernon H. Warnke said in a statement at the time. “Under current law, nationwide law enforcement’s hands are tied with policies that have a significant impact on our communities and their quality of life.”
“The sanctuary law is utterly indefensible,” Kiley told Fox News Digital. “It has led to many, many tragedies across the state. It’s one of the reasons California has had the very worst illegal immigration problem during the Biden administration.”
He added the law was “legally dubious” in that it seeks to violate federal law. Redman, who grew up in progressive Los Angeles County, said he partially came out publicly with his stance on the sanctuary law because of the Trump administration and its willingness to defend local officials who work with ICE.
“I’ve always felt this way, but there wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to say this under the Biden administration,” Redman said. “I didn’t trust the attorney general at the time. I didn’t trust the Biden administration as far as coming after me. Absolutely, I don’t think that’s going to happen under the Trump administration.”
Among California sheriffs, Redman, who considers himself a moderate Republican, stands alone. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who is running to become California’s next governor, has advocated for abolishing sanctuary state policies and requiring local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
In addition to Redman, two California cities, Huntington Beach and Oroville, have defiantly declared themselves non-sanctuary cities. In Amador County, nearly 49% of voters are registered Republicans, dwarfing the 27% who align with Democrats, according to the California Secretary of State’s office.
That could be a reason why a Change.org petition calling for Redman to be removed has only received 53 signatures since March 1. “I’m friends with a lot of progressives here in Amador County, and what they’ve always found is I’m reasonable and I’m willing to listen,” Redman said. “My Democratic friends have come out and said, ‘We support you, Gary. This is common sense. We’re tired of California and the way California’s going where they continue to elevate criminals.'”
