Feds suspend immigration enforcement amid Northern California fires

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, announced Friday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has suspended all noncriminal immigration enforcement operations at wildfire evacuation sites or shelters.

The suspension is in response to the devastating fires that continue to burn throughout the North Bay and Northern California.

“The only time we’re going to pick someone up is in the event of a serious criminal presenting a current public safety threat,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman James Schwab said Friday, as reported by the Los Angeles Times

He did not say how long the suspension would last.

Immigration enforcement will not detain anyone from evacuation sites, assistance shelters or food banks in the region, Schwab said.

Rep. Huffman urges all residents, regardless of immigration status, to seek shelter and follow public safety and evacuation warnings, without any threat of action by ICE.

Meanwhile, Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, announced Friday the Internal Revenue Service’s decision to extend the deadline to file certain individual and business tax returns for victims of the wildfires.

The IRS has decided to extend the deadline for various tax filling and payment deadlines to Jan. 31, 2018 for many who have been devastated by the fires.