California and Colorado want to thwart Trump on immigration. Bad idea. Customized do-it-yourself local immigration policy sets a dangerous precedent.

Ruben Navarrette Jr. | Opinion columnist

SAN DIEGO — California schemin.’

What else do we call it when the Democratic lawmakers who control the Golden State, due in large part to a boneheaded decision by Republicans in the 1990s to alienate Latinos with poorly-conceived attempts to restrict illegal immigration, make it their mission to thwart the Trump administration’s efforts at immigration enforcement?

That is what’s happening, and for three reasons: Politics, posturing and penance.

Politics: In a state where Hillary Clinton got 3 million more votes than Trump, Democrats have little to lose by challenging the president on many issues, including trade and climate change. But given that California is 40% Latino, it’s especially tempting to attack Trump on immigration.

Posturing: The president has proven to be a wonderful foil for ambitious Democrats eager to climb the ranks of California politics. For those who might one day like to run for governor or U.S. Senate, there seems to be a contest for who can be the biggest thorn in Trump’s side.

Penance: Democrats could be atoning for past sins. When the Obama administration deported more than 3 million people, divided hundreds of thousands of families, dumped thousands of U.S.-born children into foster care, and then blamed it all on Republicans, California Democrats didn’t make a peep.

There’s no shortage of hypocrisy on the left coast. Neither party has covered itself in glory when dealing with the immigration issue. Still, the important thing is where we go from here. Will Democratic efforts to combat Trump’s misguided immigration enforcement policy be effective or counter-productive?

When I learned that California Democrats were targeting the employers of illegal immigrants, I got interested — and excited. Over the quarter century that I’ve written about the immigration debate, I’ve consistently argued that the only way to curb illegal immigration is to do the one thing that politicians in both parties won’t do. And that is, pick on someone who actually has the power and resources to fight back.

Until Americans start punishing those who employ illegal immigrants with fines, asset forfeiture and jail time — and removing the loophole in the existing law that requires employers to have committed the infraction “knowingly” — we’ll never secure our borders or regain control of immigration.

Politicians refuse to accept this truth because it just so happens that many employers are also campaign contributors. And for elected officials, the six most terrifying words in the English language are: “I’m stopping payment on the check!”

Besides, one of the largest employers of illegal immigrants is the American household where overworked parents are in constant need of housekeepers, gardeners, nannies and senior care providers. You’ll never hear a politician call for putting soccer moms and stay-at-home dads into a police lineup.

Going after those who employ illegal immigrants takes courage, common sense and a desire to stop illegal immigration. California Democrats possess none of the above. All they want to do is interfere with Trump’s planned deportations of illegal immigrants. To that end, legislators have proposed a series of bills barring landlords from disclosing tenants' immigration status to police or prohibiting employers from letting immigration agents come onto work sites or view employee files.

Californians aren’t the only ones trying to gum up the works and cause trouble for this administration. Coloradans are also engaging in similar mischief. In Denver, local officials recently passed an ordinance intended to protect legal immigrants from being deported for committing low-level misdemeanors. Currently, Immigration and Customs Enforcement only bothers to remove those who break laws that carry maximum sentences of 365 days. So city officials took an assortment of petty offenses and reduced the maximum sentences to under 365 days. The hope is that this will keep offenders off the radar of immigration officials.

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This trend toward customized do-it-yourself local immigration policy is bad news, and it sets a dangerous precedent. At its core, it’s about cities and states trying — under the direction of Democrats — to muscle their way into the immigration enforcement business, which is solely within the purview of the federal government.

Localized immigration enforcement is something that was opposed by progressives seven years ago when Arizona passed a law that encouraged local and state police to practice ethnic profiling and round up illegal immigrants. Democrats thought the Arizona law was dreadful. But what they’re doing now is OK? Where’s the consistency?

I’m all for the anti-Trump resistance. More power to them. But this version is fraught with peril and creates more problems than it solves.

Ruben Navarrette Jr., a member of the USA Today Board of Contributors, is a columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group and the host of the podcast, Navarrette Nation. Follow him on Twitter @RubenNavarrette.

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