California has moved one step closer to becoming a sanctuary state, one in which its law enforcement agencies are prevented from cooperating with increasingly busy federal immigration agents.

With minor changes to win over moderates, a polarizing California bill to keep California’s law enforcement agencies from cooperating with federal immigration agents cleared a key hurdle Monday and will head to the full Senate for a vote. Senate Bill 54 is perhaps the Legislature’s highest-profile act of defiance against the Trump administration, which is seeking to enlist the help of local police to carry out its promised crackdown on illegal immigration. The proposal would prohibit local and state agencies from using state resources to communicate with federal agents, with a few exceptions — such as task forces involving federal and local agencies. …The bill officially titled the California Values Act advanced Monday on a party-line vote, despite opposition from the California State Sheriffs’ Association and other groups, at a packed and testy Senate appropriations committee hearing. The sheriffs association remained opposed even after the recent amendments, such as one that would ensure the feds receive a 60-day notice before certain violent felons are released from state prison or local custody. Previously, the bill wouldn’t have allowed such explicit communication about an inmate’s release.

As one would suspect, illegal aliens are thrilled at the sanctuary they may soon receive.

Not everyone marching at the Capitol Wednesday was a U.S. Citizen, but all 1,500 of them are proud Californians. “I went through tough times myself, me and my family, when we came to the States,” Mario Fuentes said. Fuentes drove from Los Angeles to march and rally at the Capitol to share his story with state legislators. He is a former refugee from El Salvador. He fears President Donald Trump’s immigration and deportation policies will hurt families. “I would say 99 percent of those families are good families. Hard working families. Just like my family,” Fuentes said. The crowd of marchers urged lawmakers to support SB 54, commonly referred to as the “Sanctuary State Bill.”

I anticipate that the bill will receive a warm welcome in the state Senate, which is headed by Kevin De León. Legal Insurrection readers will recall that de León recently admitted that half his family is under deportation threat.

However, he has just received a letter from Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell, who voiced opposition to the bill and echoed sentiments from sheriffs in Southern California’s other counties. In part, McDonnell warns of the unintended consequences of this measure becoming law.

In his March 9 letter to de Leon, McDonnell said the bill would prevent the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department from responding to requests by federal immigration agents to be notified when its jails are housing inmates who might be subject to deportation. LASD runs all of the county’s jails. McDonnell said the department’s current practice is to release inmates being investigated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE, directly into the custody of their agents. If that transfer process is severed, McDonnell said the result would be ICE agents fanning out into neighborhoods across the region in search of undocumented immigrants with orders for deportation. “SB 54 would not allow the safe transfer of custody; rather it would force immigration enforcement agents into our communities in order to search out and find the person they seek,” McDonnell said. “While doing this, they will most surely cast a wide net over our communities, apprehending and detaining those not originally the target of the enforcement actions.”

I suspect not every Californian is going to be upset at the prospect of more deportations. In fact, many will be interested in how to make such deportations permanent.

President Trump has reached out to offer condolences by calling the fiancé of Sandra Dunn, who was killed in a car crash by an illegal immigrant who had been deported five times. It is just the latest in a series of gestures by President Trump to call attention to crimes committed by immigrants, as he seeks to tighten immigration, build a border wall, and cut off refugees from countries he considers a threat. Duran’s fiancé, Rodrigo Macias, appeared on “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday to talk about his loss as well as immigration policy, declaring that ‘Our system failed us.’

Yes, our state legislators and their misguided priorities are the biggest contributor to the failure.

As the rest of the country battles with the deep state, Californians must contend with the failed state.



