Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes, who has been ordered by a Superior Court judge to cut the county’s jail population in half, recently defended his department’s policies regarding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) transfers in front of the Southern California county’s Board of Supervisors. Barnes said state regulations are responsible for releasing dangerous criminals out onto the county’s streets, at an annual public discussion about how local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities work together that has taken place in Orange County since 2018, when it became required under a California law called the Truth Act. “We enforce these laws equally without bias and without regard for one’s immigration status. In carrying out our duties, we do not ask the immigration status of suspects or witnesses or those who call to report crimes,” Barnes said at the Dec. 8 meeting. “We do not perform immigration activities within the public as …