San Luis Obispo County 1st District Supervisor John Peschong’s call at the January TRUTH Act forum to help U.S.-born children affected by federal immigration enforcement gained steam at the April 7 Board of Supervisors meeting, even though he rejected a funding injection.
“I’m not going to support that today,” Peschong said at the meeting. “It’s not because the Community Foundation is not a good organization; they’re a wonderful organization and do good work in the community. But right now, I don’t see the need for this. I don’t think we actually have the money to do it. I think it’s a pretty tough budget year right now.”
The January forum concluded with 3rd District Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg and 4th District Supervisor Jimmy Paulding forming the ad hoc immigration task force to study different ways county officials can respond to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions.
After speaking with community members to better understand how to meet the needs of people serving immigrants, Paulding and Ortiz-Legg returned on April 7 with a recommendation to allocate $100,000—from a $300,000 pot set aside during the last budget cycle to address emerging board priorities—as the SLO County Children’s Fund.
The children’s fund is nested within the SLO County Community Foundation’s relaunched program called the One Community Fund: Fueling a Vibrant Immigrant Future. Set up during the pandemic when it was known as the SLO County UndocuSupport Fund, the One Community Fund focuses on housing, food, and health care; stronger collaboration across service providers; and community-led leadership and advocacy efforts.
‘I think when we see hardworking people in the community who are being arrested from their homes or their places of business or work and deported, having committed no other crime than being undocumented, that is a greater concern and moral injustice.’
—Jimmy Paulding, 4th District supervisor
With around $275,000 left in the reserve fund, supervisors approved the $100,000 allocation in a 3-2 motion. Peschong and fellow conservative 5th District Supervisor Heather Moreno dissented.
Second District Supervisor Bruce Gibson asked the board to keep an eye out for more funding that could add to the $100,000 sum in the future.
County staff will return with options for a pilot mobile resource model that serves immigrant families, seniors, veterans, and other underserved communities. Gibson, Paulding, and Ortiz-Legg also approved quarterly reporting and an online database from the Sheriff’s Office, publication of educational materials about local immigration enforcement actions and interactions with ICE, and the adoption of a formal policy and protocol requiring a judicial warrant for ICE to access county facilities and non-public areas.
The policy adoption mirrors similar moves made by officials in the city and county of Los Angeles, and Santa Clara, San Jose, Alameda, and San Mateo counties that ban commandeering of city and county property for immigration enforcement.
Before supervisors passed the motion, several residents urged county leaders to create a more robust response to ICE activity. They suspected the Sheriff’s Office of colluding with ICE, resulting in the federal arrest of local inmates.
“In the 70 days that the ad-hoc committee has been preparing their report, 28 additional people have been abducted from our county jail,” Susan Mackey told supervisors.
“As a citizen, I need you to do more and do better than to simply accept the report, file it, and distribute the money to deal with the harms that are being caused by the unlawful actions of the federal government,” Cal Poly professor Linda Vanasupa said.
Paulding said he’s seen no evidence that the Sheriff’s Office is working with ICE in an illegal way. He cited Senate Bill 54, the statewide sanctuary law called the California Values Act, that limits the use of state and local resources for mass deportations.
“I have seen that the Sheriff’s Office is engaging in their discretion related to compliance with SB 54 and who they decide is being released into ICE’s custody,” he said.
The supervisor also pointed to the Sheriff’s Office’s online database that details the crimes of inmates taken away by ICE, which includes qualifying charges like vandalism, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, grand theft of property, and inflicting corporal injury on their spouse.
“The folks being released into ICE’s custody from jail are people who have committed crimes, and not once was that mentioned today by any members of the public,” Paulding said. “I think when we see hardworking people in the community who are being arrested from their homes or their places of business or work and deported, having committed no other crime than being undocumented, that is a greater concern and moral injustice.” ∆
This article appears in April 9-16, 2026.