SANTA ANA, Calif. — Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes Tuesday gave an annual report on immigration enforcement Tuesday to the Orange County Board of Supervisors, emphasizing that his department will not enforce federal immigration laws, but criticizing state law discouraging coordination with federal authorities.

Barnes said his department "does not engage in immigration enforcement," adding, "my deputies are focused on criminal violations of state and local laws. We never ask the immigration status of suspects, witnesses, or those who report crime... We have not and will not participate in any local operations of enforcement actions by federal authorities enforcing immigration laws."

But, the sheriff added, "My department will in no way impede federal law enforcement officials from carrying out their responsibilities."

Barnes ticked off multiple examples of recidivism with immigrants in the country without legal permission released after serving their sentences in his jail system. He sarcastically said of one man, "following the law was not apparently one of his New Year's resolutions."

Last year, he said, out of about 48,000 suspects booked 733 caught the attention of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Of those, state law prohibited his deputies from alerting ICE when 456 of the inmates were going to be released, he said.

And of 277 that ICE showed an interest in, 49 were not picked up by federal authorities, Barnes said.

"Those who are not picked up by ICE continue to victimize our community and consume law enforcement resources," Barnes said. "For the last few years I've spoken of the crisis at our southern border and the threat it poses to our nation... The border is now secured."

Barnes said he is opposed to the so-called state sanctuary law because he feels it is unnecessary since his department has no interest in enforcing federal law. He said it could encourage federal authorities to more vigorously seek undocumented immigrants if his department did not alert ICE when some inmates are to be released if the state law allows it.

Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento emphasized to activists who spoke out against Barnes' enforcement of the law with respect to illegal immigration that the county cannot dictate to the sheriff what policies he has in his office. The Board of Supervisors, however, can control the budget of the sheriff, he added.

Last week, Sarmiento said, his office hosted a forum after business hours to make it more convenient for residents to attend and learn more about how immigration enforcement is being done here. But, he noted, many of the speakers at Tuesday's board meeting, were not there and he encouraged them to attend future forums.

Sarmiento noted that some neighboring counties have much lower numbers of inmates being turned over to federal authorities, "so we have a disparity here."

He added, "I don't know if we're doing a much  more effective job or fasting a wider net."

Sarmiento said he would like to "partner" with Barnes in future public forums on the issue to answer concerns from the public.

"As long as people feel fearful they won't report crimes," Sarmiento said.

Sarmiento chastised sheriff's officials for not turning over  more data before the annual  meetings on immigration enforcement. He said his office had to get most of its information this year form a nonprofit organization that received data from public records requests.

Also, Sarmiento questioned whether the arrests and referrals to ICE had any impact on crime.

"I guess what I'm lacking is data that these (ICE) transfers actually result in a reduction of crime," Sarmiento said. "I have yet to hear in the two years I've been on this board that it shows that crime is being decreased."