Alameda County Sheriff Accused of Violating State Sanctuary Law

Eighteen years ago, Maria Ortega Rangel left her home state of Nayarit, Mexico and came to California in search of a better life. In Oakland, she got married, but in 2006 her husband was tragically murdered. The crime was never solved. Years later, she met another man, married a second time, and they had a baby girl.

Life's a "mixed bag," she said in a recent interview, with "happy and sad moments."

Ortega, who runs a small business making tamales while raising her 10-year-old daughter, said she wants a better life for her three children. Her two adult sons also live in the East Bay. She no longer has close family in Nayarit.

Until this year, she's never been in trouble with the law, but her current husband got her into a legal mess — but of the kind that California's sanctuary policies were meant to prevent. Now, she's lost her home, is facing deportation, and fears she'll have to take her daughter, who is a U.S. citizen, back to the poverty of rural Mexico.

Read more: https://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/alameda-sheriff-accused-of-violating-state-sanctuary-law/Content?oid=23673089