At the beginning of December, I wrote a VIP piece about a pretty aggressive move the San Diego Board of Supervisors was contemplating in response to the Trump election and his implementation of announced immigration rejiggering plans, aka mass deportations.
Introducing the resolution and leading the charge for passage was the Democratic District 1 supervisor and chairwoman of the board, Nora Vargas. What her proposal would do was ban the use of any county resources – including the county sheriff – from being used to assist ICE and the federal government in removing illegal aliens from San Diego County.
…Today’s actions will adopt a resolution and Board Policy L-2 to affirm the County shall not provide assistance or cooperation to ICE in its civil immigration enforcement efforts, including by giving ICE agents access to individuals or allowing them to use County facilities for investigative interviews or other purposes, expending County time or resources responding to ICE inquiries or communicating with ICE regarding individuals’ incarceration status or release dates, or otherwise participating in any civil immigration enforcement activities. The proposed policy does not limit or prohibit giving assistance with the investigative activities of any local, state, or federal law enforcement agency relating to suspected violations of criminal laws.
She’s basically codifying giving ICE the brush-off because of “time and resources.”
I would think co-operating with ICE in a border county that is experiencing an illegal immigration flood would be worth expending “time and resources.”
Vargas’s resolution passed during a tumultuous supervisors’ board meeting during the first week of this month.
Vocal residents on both sides of the issue were at the meeting in force.
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 Tuesday to restrict the use of county resources for federal immigration enforcement.
…”Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, and our county will not be a tool for policies that hurt our residents,” said Vargas, who made the proposal.
…Vargas, Vice Chair Terra Lawson-Remer and Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe voted yes, while Supervisor Jim Desmond was the lone no vote. Supervisor Joel Anderson was absent Tuesday due to illness, officials said.
In a statement, Desmond said the decision “to turn San Diego County into a `super’ sanctuary county is an affront to every law-abiding citizen who values safety and justice.”
As was the San Diego County Sheriff, Kelly Martinez, who made it quite clear that, as an elected official, the Board of Supervisors had no control over her department. She was going to obey all applicable state and federal laws and cooperate where she could.
The pro-illegal lobby has her firmly in their sights for spoiling their super-sanctuary plan roll-out, and they were still after her a week ago.
San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez said she will not be following new policy from the Board of Supervisors that limits her cooperation with immigration authorities unless they have a warrant signed by a state or federal judge.
State law allows the sheriff’s department to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in certain ways, even without a judicial warrant.
Sheriff Kelly Martinez declined an interview but sent a written statement.
She said she has authority over the jails, not the board, and her office will keep doing what they’ve been doing — letting ICE interview consenting people in their custody with certain convictions, and notifying ICE of upcoming release dates.
Those convictions include things like sexual abuse, child abuse, battery, assault and drug charges.
I sure like the cut of her jib.
While the storm that Vargas set in motion was breaking over everyone’s head, as well as drawing an unwelcome Tom Homan beady eye on the county, the voluble chairwoman herself suddenly clammed up. She couldn’t be reached for comment and blamed her recurring vocal nodule issues.
There wasn’t a peep out of her until Friday. Then she dropped a bombshell on her staff and the county she’d just pretty well boned with the federal government.
I QUIT
Friday’s resignation of Nora Vargas from the San Diego County Board of Supervisors rocked the political world and left many speculating. Vargas said it was due to her personal safety and security. She said she accomplished great things and brought equity to the county. Story 👇 pic.twitter.com/C22aXqky4c
— North County Pipeline (@NCPipeline760) December 22, 2024
Vargas had only been reelected a month ago, but seemed to have been wearing out her welcome for some time.
San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas abruptly resigned on Friday, shocking the county’s political establishment and ushering in a period of instability as county leaders grapple with homelessness, immigration, an incoming presidential administration and other major challenges.
Vargas, who won re-election to the board just one month ago, said in a statement that she was stepping down due to unspecified “personal safety and security reasons.”
Vargas had faced a torrent of hateful online comments after spearheading a recent county policy that aimed to limit cooperation with federal immigration officials in advance of incoming President-elect Donald Trump’s promised crackdown on undocumented immigrants. She has spoken often of her dismay at mounting public disruptions in Board of Supervisors meetings and said she has faced death threats and other extreme forms of harassment.
“I have stalkers, I have people who harass me on phones, there’s all sorts of things,” she said during a recent Board of Supervisors discussion about changing meeting rules to prevent disruptions.
But Vargas also had alienated a growing number of onetime supporters in her district and received a surprisingly low number of votes in her re-election race against an underfunded and virtually unknown Republican opponent.
The lightning rod chairwoman also had myriad complaints about the tenor and volume of complaints she received, claiming she felt her safety was in jeopardy due to them. The county was reportedly ponying up some serious cash for her security detail.
#noravargas used $41k a month security to support her delusions of grandeur and persecution. “Look at me, No! Don’t look at me!” https://t.co/ugNTyaPAlb
— Sirena (@lasirenadelmar7) December 21, 2024
Considering what overwhelmed San Diego County residents thought of this last political stunt of hers, the heat may have been too much in the kitchen.
Readers react: San Diego County Supervisor Nora Vargas’s actions contradict her oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution. Encouraging invasions and prioritizing loyalty beyond U.S. borders violates her duty. https://t.co/KODZYpV4ku
— San Diego Union-Tribune Opinion (@sdutOpinion) December 19, 2024
Or there may have been other personal factors….
Super Sanctuary San Diego Supervisor Nora Vargas resigned suddenly, but there were signs 🚩
Making nearly $300k a year, court records show she defaulted on an $11,000 Bank of America credit card. Something doesn’t add up. https://t.co/moj4GpqNZW— Amy Reichert (@amyforsandiego) December 21, 2024
…and/or professional ones that precipitated this sudden exit. Vargas is explosively touchy on any questions of ethics, corruption, or coercion in this recording.
Audio surfaces of recently resigned Supervisor Nora Vargas getting hostile with the San Marcos and El Cajon Mayors at a SANDAG meeting when corruption is brought up. Very suspicious. pic.twitter.com/naLUUWDh5B
— Amy Reichert (@amyforsandiego) December 20, 2024
She’s facing two racial discrimination lawsuits, too.
…However, Vargas’ tenure has also seen its share of scandals and controversy. She is facing two racial discrimination lawsuits, both by Asian men.
Jeff Liu filed a lawsuit in late 2023 claiming Vargas’ office offered him a job as her policy director, but then rescinded the offer. The allegations claim Vargas’ former chief of staff, Denice García, uttered slurs at Liu and Liu claimed Vargas knew about the slurs and other alleged racist comments about him.
Earlier this year, former county deputy administrative officer, Michael Vu, filed a lawsuit against the county claiming Vargas made racist remarks about Vu after he applied for the county administrative officer job. The CAO leads the day-to-day operations of the county.
Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer is also named in the Vu suit as he alleges Lawson-Remer engaged in a campaign to hire former Fletcher staffer Paul Worlie as Vu’s No. 2 if Vu agreed to the deal. He did not, according to his lawsuit.
There has also been a continuing, embarrassing Department of Justice investigation into the workings of the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), of which Vargas was also the chair during what seems to be a generally sloppy term in office.
As the SANDAG board of directors continues to wrestle with the fact that it was kept in the dark about issues related to the state Route 125 tolling system, several members remain suspicious about who else knew about these issues early on.
Recent audits completed by SANDAG’s Independent Performance Auditor Courtney Ruby confirmed that agency executives were aware of significant financial reporting issues with operator ETAN Tolling Technologies in mid-2022 but did not tell the board until late 2023.
Ruby’s office also found that when SANDAG rushed into a $28 million sole-source contract with Deloitte and A-To-Be to migrate over the back office system technology earlier this year, the agency failed to ensure that its financial accounting needs would be met.
This oversight created a host of new problems that will extend the timeline for transferring over to the back office system by several months.
When she was there, I mean.
The chair of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors claimed she had a doctor’s appointment when she walked out of a meeting earlier this month and later posted a video on Instagram at a Padres playoff game. However, county records of Supervisor Nora Vargas’ calendar obtained by ABC 10News do not show a doctor’s appointment on Oct. 8.
Vargas moved all of her items to the front of the Oct. 8 meeting agenda and then walked out abruptly in the afternoon, missing a consequential vote on a gun procurement ordinance. Then, she posted a story on her personal Instagram account from Petco Park, celebrating a Fernando Tatis Jr. home run in Game 3 of the National League Division Series.
At the moment, no one is going to be able to catch her in little white lies – she’s deleted all her social media accounts. But I have yet to see the Democrat who can stay away from a camera and off the innerwebs for very long.
They simply haven’t the intestinal fortitude to sign off completely. It’s like an incurable crack addiction for them.
County Supervisor from San Diego, Nora Vargas, has deleted her Facebook public official page and limited comments on Instagram. She shouldn’t be holding office in the first place. #SanDiego #NoraVargas pic.twitter.com/eDgeNJA39N
— Nanno (@realnannob) December 20, 2024
With Vargas removing herself so expeditiously, the board is evenly split now. Things may stall, but at least they won’t go to complete crap.
Several level heads are contemplating a run for her seat in the meantime.
One of those fellows is the mayor of El Cajon, who put out this little chat before the board voted for Vargas’s Super Sanctuary status.
Nora Vargas, Chair of the Board of Supervisors, is pushing to expand sanctuary state policies in San Diego, making it harder for even convicted or dangerous criminals to be handed over to ICE or border patrol for deportation.
This move couldn’t be more out of touch with what… pic.twitter.com/mv2I4x7bFf
— Bill Wells (@MayorBillWells) December 9, 2024
I have a feeling he might do pretty well as a rational upgrade after all this…if they give him a chance.
See? Sometimes I can be an optimist.
