Siskiyou County repeals water ordinances that residents said targeted Asian Americans

Siskiyou County has repealed a pair of ordinances that residents said targeted Hmong and other Asian Americans in the region and made it harder for them to access water during a period of intense drought.

The ordinances had barred the transportation of more than 100 gallons of water without a permit on certain roads, according to the Asian Law Caucus. The county also revised a third ordinance "to establish due process protections and limit violation fines that discouraged people from providing water," the legal organization added in a statement this week.

Fines had been set so high that they effectively made those with access to water, such as large well owners, afraid to sell or provide water to anyone else, according to the Asian Law Caucus.

County officials claimed the ordinances were put in place to curb illegal cannabis cultivation. But a lawsuit filed in 2021 by attorneys Allison Margolin and Frank Moore on behalf of Siskiyou County residents called the ordinances “a sweeping campaign to harass and intimidate Hmong and other Asian Americans," the Asian Law Caucus said.

Repealing the ordinances are part of an agreement to settle that lawsuit, according to the Law Caucus. Siskiyou County did not respond to requests for comment Friday.

Read more: A California county cuts off water to Asian pot growers. Is it racism or crime crackdown?

The lawsuit alleged that the water-transportation ordinance was applied only on roads surrounding Asian American neighborhoods.

In a brief, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Asian Law Caucus argued that one of the ordinances targeted the Shasta Vista area of the county, "which is approximately 75% Hmong, even though approximately 97% of the marijuana grows ... that the ordinance is supposedly designed to address are located outside Shasta Vista."

A federal judge issued an injunction against two of the ordinances in 2021, stating that "the dehydration and de facto expulsion of a disfavored minority community cannot be the price paid in an effort to stop illegal cannabis cultivation and any attendant harms."

Siskiyou County resident Russell Mathis called repealing the ordinances "an important victory."

"My neighbors and I have been forced to make impossible choices between bathing every week and providing water to our pets, livestock and gardens," Mathis said in a statement provided by the Asian Law Caucus. "County officials said they wanted to ‘choke’ us out, and these water ordinances were one tool in a shameful playbook to push so many of us out of the neighborhoods we call home."

Read more: Asian Americans sue Siskiyou County and its sheriff, alleging racial bias

The water ordinances were also among the targets of a class-action lawsuit filed last year, which alleged harassment and discrimination on the part of local law enforcement.

According to attorneys for the plaintiffs in that lawsuit, nearly 30% of all drivers stopped by Siskiyou County sheriff's deputies in 2021 were Asian American. Asian Americans make up 1.8% of the county's population, according to U.S. census data.

The plaintiffs in that lawsuit are "currently in settlement negotiations to resolve claims of racial discrimination," the Asian Law Caucus said.

Sign up for Essential California, your daily guide to news, views and life in the Golden State.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.