WASHINGTON, D.C. — California State Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach), who is one of two Republicans running in the Democrat-heavy field of 2018 gubernatorial candidates, says “defunding every sanctuary jurisdiction in the State of California” will be one of his priorities if he becomes the Golden State’s 40th governor.

Allen, who has served in the State Assembly for five years, told Breitbart News that defunding California’s sanctuary cities would “absolutely and without a doubt” be one of his top priorities in the first 100 days of taking office.

“California communities have to be made safe,” Allen said, “It makes absolutely no sense to shelter people who are in our state illegally and committing crimes with taxpayer dollars.”

In an op-ed he penned in the Washington Examiner this week, Allen wrote:

By enacting SB 54 and declaring California a “sanctuary state,” Jerry Brown and liberal Sacramento politicians are draining citizenship of meaning and making a mockery of that history and those aspirations. They have taken a knee to the demands of identity politics – declaring illegal immigrants a protected class, and ordering state and local law enforcement to provide them with special protection.

Allen added, “Sanctuary state policies, by their very nature, are contrary to being a nation of laws. As a nation of laws, we cannot pick and choose which ones we’ll obey. In principle, SB 54 is no different than Southern segregationist declarations of “massive resistance” to federal court orders to integrate public facilities.”

In February, Allen introduced Assembly Bill 1252 (AB 1252), which sought to defund sanctuary cities from receiving state funds. However, Democrats blocked the bill.

“I would have defunded every sanctuary jurisdiction in the State of California that either called itself a sanctuary or had sanctuary policies in place,” Allen told Breitbart News this week. “This was voted down along party lines with all Democrats voting no and all Republicans voting yes. It was clearly their agenda from the beginning to make California a haven for people that are here illegally and committing crimes in our communities.”

He noted that “in five years in the California Legislature, I’ve been witness to countless great ideas that get killed in committee before they are even voted on in the legislative floor.” He added, “The bottom line is, with supermajorities both in the Senate and the Assembly, Democrats enjoy more power in California than they’ve had any time since the 1880s.”

Allen praised President Donald Trump, saying he believes the commander-in-chief “is 100 percent correct in enforcing federal immigration law. The Constitution is very clear, and we are a nation of laws. Allowing people who are here in our country illegally to be defended with taxpayer dollars in an affront to every law-abiding California citizen and it puts all of our families in danger.

“The numbers are shocking,” he continued. There are one to two million criminal illegal aliens in the U.S. According to ICE data, illegal immigrants comprise 12 percent of murder sentences, 20 percent of kidnapping sentences, and 60 percent of drug-trafficking sentences, despite the fact that they are just 3.5 percent of the U.S. population.

“And overall, they account for 37 percent of federal sentences and 13 percent of all criminal offenses nationwide. So clearly, harboring illegal immigrants who are committing crimes is an extremely dangerous policy for California. And, as the next governor of California, it will be one of the first things that I repeal.”

He noted that his main Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, supports sanctuary city policies.

“There’s a huge disconnect on this issue between California’s Democrat politicians that are running the state and the citizens of California. The majority of Californians from every ethnic group and political party clearly understand sanctuary policies for what they are; safe spaces for criminal illegal immigrants.”

Allen added, “Gavin Newsom, [State Senate President pro Tem] Kevin de León, and Jerry Brown are pandering to a radical base of liberals in California that are absolutely not representative of the state’s population as a whole. Even first-generation Latinos are opposed to sanctuary policies at 65 percent. Clearly, no one thinks it’s a good idea to shelter criminals who are in our country illegally.”

He added, “It was the exact policies put in place and supported by Newsom and others that caused the death of Kate Steinle in 2015, when she was walking down the pier with her father and was shot in the back by an illegal immigrant who had been deported five times previously and never should have been in the country in the first place,” he said.

“Gavin Newsom and the Democrat politicians running California have gone so far left that they have not only left ordinary Californians behind … today’s Democratic politicians in California have left their party far behind,” he added. “Hard-working moderates, Reagan Democrats and just everyday Democrats who are in the State of California know that sheltering people who are in our state illegally, who are committing crimes, makes absolutely no sense.

“And this is part of an extreme, progressive agenda that’s been championed by Gavin Newsom, Bernie Sanders, and others. And all the data clearly shows that Californians across the political spectrum disagree with these dangerous policies.”

Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.