Are you down on sanctuary cities? If so, according to a new report, you’re right in sync with roughly half of California’s sheriff’s departments.

As per a study by the Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus and the University of Oxford Centre for Criminology-Border Criminologies, the state’s “California Values Act” ain’t gettin’ a lot of love via law enforcement.

From the Washington Examiner:

Nearly half of California sheriff’s departments are protesting a new California law that bars them from helping federal immigration officials find criminal illegal immigrants, according to a new report. What’s more, several of the 169 law enforcement agencies in California are challenging former Gov. Jerry Brown’s bid to hide criminal illegals by letting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to seize the wanted prisoners for deportation and not telling the state. … The report from the University of Oxford Centre for Criminology-Border Criminologies reveals what many law enforcement agencies are doing to get around the law. The report is critical of those moves and calls on the state to crack down on agencies that help ICE to find and remove criminal illegals.

Of the 169 departments, 68 are out of compliance. That’s a whoppin’ 40%.

How’s the 60% helpin’ things? Thanks to the January 2018 legislation, over the first five months, ICE arrests from local jails dropped 41%.

And that — in the view of Advancing Justice, is a terrible, real bad crummy thing; we need even fewer arrests:

The California Values Act is one of the most expansive sanctuary laws in the country. As a result of implementation of this new law, there has been a notable drop in [law enforcement agency (LEA)]-assisted [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and [Customs and Border Protection] arrests in the state, especially when compared to anti-sanctuary states such as Texas. However, there is much work to be done by the State to bring LEAs into full compliance with SB 54 and to ensure that the law is not undermined through the exploitation of its policy exceptions. At a time when the federal administration has been hostile to immigrant communities and has ramped up immigration arrests, detentions, and deportations, it is imperative that Californians are confident that their local, county, and state government will not work to deport them, their family members, friends, co-workers, and neighbors.

So it’s very important not to take any action against anyone sneakin’ into the country.

How does that accomplish great things?

As pointed out by The Daily Wire, the Center for Immigration Studies says it doesn’t:

The practical effects of the [California Values Act] have been disastrous. Many individuals have been needlessly injured or murdered by aliens released to the street by misguided enforcement organizations in the state. Some of the circumstances involved have been brutal and horrific.

Sadly, a number of those slain by illegal aliens released to the streets have been police officers and sheriff’s deputies (see, e.g., here, and here). Some other lucky few officers have escaped with their lives. One of the illegal aliens (with a long history of prior drug convictions), who was later arrested and tried for the murders, profanely declared he didn’t “f-ing regret it” and went on to threaten the jurors. … Bravo! I hope [resisting LEAs] keep on doing it, and that more join them. What’s that motto on the side of many police cars? Oh, that’s right, it’s “To Serve and Protect”. What better way to do that than to see alien criminals removed from American communities, instead of releasing them to offend again.

Personally, I’m a firm believer in states’ rights, in a way that isn’t even close to practiced in contemporary America. As such, I’m inclined to, on principle, support California’s autonomy in the face of federal immigration policy. But then I remember how dumb California is, and that San Francisco’s covered with turds, and the fact that businesses have bailed out of the Golden State like it’s goin’ outta style, and how much LA parking tickets cost. Then I think, maybe West Coast lawmakers should leave it up to the feds.

Oh — and I also remember that immigration — entrance into the U.S. by way of our immigration system — as opposed to the opposite of immigration, which involves coyotes, wading through streams, and this craziness — is an American virtue.

On top of that, it seems idiotic to have a border if nothing regarding the border is enforced. And, as The Donald’s so astutely mentioned, if we don’t have a border, we don’t have a country.

Let’s have a country.

-Alex

Relevant RedState links in this article: here.

See 3 more pieces from me: goofy Al Green, goofy Carl Bernstein, and just plain goofy.

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