Los Angeles Times
By Jazmine Ulloa
January 03, 2018
Taking a jab at Gov. Jerry Brown, President Trump’s top immigration chief on Wednesday said he was preparing to “significantly increase” his agency’s enforcement presence in California because of last year’s passage of a landmark “sanctuary state” law.
“California better hold on tight,” Thomas Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said on Fox News. “They are about to see a lot more special agents, a lot more deportation officers.”
The comments were the latest salvo between Trump immigration officials and California leaders over the law that took effect Jan. 1.
The law prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from using personnel or funds to hold or question people, or share information about them with federal immigration agents, unless they have been convicted of one or more offenses from a list of 800 crimes.
The “sanctuary state” law was the centerpiece of legislative proposals last year that sought to challenge Trump’s stance on illegal immigration and provide protection for immigrants in the face of the president’s threat of mass deportations.
Homan also blasted “sanctuary cities,” which limit the collaboration between state and federal agencies on immigration enforcement, saying such jurisdictions shield dangerous criminals and its leaders should be charged with violating federal smuggling laws.
Research has shown sanctuary cities have lower crime rates and that immigrants generally commit fewer crimes than U.S. citizens. But on Fox News Wednesday, Homan stuck to a strategy Trump has used throughout his campaign and tenure as president: highlighting cases of people killed by immigrants who were in the country illegally.
“If the politicians in California don’t want to protect their communities then ICE will,” Homan said.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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