The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office (RSO) transferred custody of 43 people to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last year, according to data obtained by The Riverside Record. That figure is a sharp increase from 2024 when the department transferred custody of 13 people.
“The number of inmates transferred solely depends on the number of requests from ICE,” Lt. Deirdre Vickers, public information officer for the department, said in an email to The Record. “I can hypothesize a few reasons why the number varies, but RSO does not influence nor determine the number of transfers.”
Since 2020, the department has transferred custody of 87 people to ICE, according to data obtained by The Record.
Vickers said the department “complies with the law,” and honors requests for transfer if that request is “accompanied by a detainer, warrant or probable cause statement approved by a federal judge.”
“RSO does not perform investigative measures to determine immigration status,” she said, noting that roughly 60,000 inmates are booked into the county’s jails annually.
The California Values Act prohibits law enforcement agencies from investigating, interrogating, detaining or arresting people for immigration enforcement purposes, though it does allow agencies discretion to cooperate with immigration authorities as long as doing so would not violate any federal, state or local law or policy.
As part of the Transparent Review of Unjust Transfers and Holds (TRUTH) Act, local law enforcement agencies are required to provide information maintained regarding the number and demographic characteristics of the people to whom they have provided ICE access. That data is also required to be presented annually at a community forum.
At Riverside County’s forum, held December 16, Correctional Chief Deputy Misha Graves said ICE initiates all requests, which includes holds, notifications and transfers.
“What happens is, ICE will request to interview an inmate,” she said. “Our staff will then reach out to the inmate, we inform them of the ICE request and we also inform them that the participation on their behalf is purely voluntary, and if they consent, then we facilitate the interview.”
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That process is also part of the TRUTH Act, which requires law enforcement to inform people in their custody of any request made by, or information shared with, ICE. It was not immediately clear how many ICE holds or requests RSO receives on an annual basis, because the department said it did not keep track of those records.
The Riverside County Probation Department is also subject to the California Values Act and the TRUTH Act, though the department did not provide information to ICE officials or grant ICE access to any clients supervised by the department for the years 2020 through 2025, according to data obtained by The Record.
The department reported that it had received one request for information from ICE regarding a probation client in May 2025.
From October 2024 to October 2025, the department supervised more than 17,000 clients, Assistant Division Director Mike Villalba told supervisors at last year’s community forum.
After first confirming receipt of The Record’s request for information about its policies and procedures for seeking access to people in the custody of local law enforcement agencies, subsequent follow-up emails to ICE went unanswered.
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