photo credit: Sonoma County Sheriff's Office

The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said the Department of Homeland Security requested a meeting, describing it as a 'meet-and-greet' with the new DHS supervisor, who oversees a region spanning from Santa Clara to the Oregon border.

Sargent Juan Valencia is Sheriff's Office spokesperson. He said DHS wanted to know whether the sheriff's office would notify them when an undocumented immigrant is arrested.

In California, if a person is arrested for a violent crime, local authorities can respond to DHS inquiries. But the Sonoma Sheriff's Office said it abides by a stricter policy: it doesn't respond to questions about arrests.

Valencia said the sheriff’s office told DHS, it would not back off its policy.

"So just to get my point across is that the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office does not cooperate with ICE,” Valencia said.

Sonoma County supervisor Lynda Hopkins, who was present at the meet-and-greet, said she wouldn’t normally share the details of such meetings. However, Hopkins said, there's a tremendous amount of concern about immigration enforcement actions and she believes the public has a right to know.

The Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond for a request for comment.