LA County Sheriff Robert Luna: Department will not assist in immigration enforcement

Amid the recent crackdown on immigration under the Trump administration, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna assured the county's residents that his department's policies on immigration enforcement have not changed.

"I can assure people that we are not going to participate in [ICE] sweeps," Luna during an ABC7 interview on Thursday.

Luna said immigration enforcement is not part of the department's jurisdiction, nor does it have the resources to help ICE with enforcement.

"For an immigration challenge, that is a civil immigration issue; it's a federal law enforcement issue," Luna explained. "We in local law enforcement have our hands full. Most of our departments are short-staffed."

"We're doing so many things to service our community, we simply don't have the staffing to start assisting in immigration enforcement," he added.

Luna assured residents, however, that his department is still paying close attention to the local response to increased immigration policy enforcement.

Last week, protesters across Southern California took to the streets and participated in walkouts to protest the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration and increased deportations. While the protests remained mostly peaceful, there were some violent incidents, including a stabbing at a protest in downtown Los Angeles.

"We always encourage if people are going to protest, to exercise their First Amendment rights, to do it peacefully: no violence, no destruction of property," Luna said.

Luna advised that people who are worried about deportations carry documentation, whether they are here legally or not. He also advised that people educate themselves and know their rights.

"As local police departments, we don't ask people their immigration status when they're arrested," Luna said. "When they call in 911, when they're trying to report a crime, we don't ask people their immigration status."