In another rebuke of President Trump, cities and counties come out in support of 'sanctuary state' law

Los Angeles Times

By Jazmine Ulloa

May 18, 2018

In another rebuke of President Trump, cities and counties come out in support of 'sanctuary state' law

Pushing back against the Trump administration, the California Senate and more than 20 cities and counties have come out in support of the state’s “sanctuary” law, which limits law enforcement agencies from cooperating with federal immigration agencies.

In two friend-of-the court briefs filed Friday, former U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. and Santa Clara County sided with California in a federal lawsuit brought forth by U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions over its immigration policies. Holder’s brief was filed on behalf of the state Senate, and Santa Clara was joined by 22 other California cities and counties.

Holder argued that entangling state and local agencies with federal immigration enforcement usurps limited resources, blurs lines of accountability and distorts trust between officers and the community. In their own brief, city and county lawyers said the federal government should not dictate how local or state resources are used.

“California has made a judgment that separating civil immigration enforcement, which is a federal duty, from local law enforcement, general policing, makes our community safer,” said Santa Clara County Counsel James R. Williams. “That is something born out by actual evidence.”

The briefs pointed to studies that show immigrants without legal status are less likely to report crimes or serve as witnesses. It also cited a 2016 federal task force report that found state and local police should not be involved with immigration enforcement whenever possible.

The court filings come just days after President Trump, in a White House meeting with like-minded California Republicans, characterized some deported immigrants “as animals,” recommended an obstruction of justice investigation against Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and suggested “a revolution” was afoot against the sanctuary state law.

As the Justice Department filed its legal challenge in March, Sessions told a gathering of law enforcement officers in Sacramento that the state was attempting to keep federal immigration officials from doing their jobs.

The state’s supporters denounced Trump’s rhetoric, calling it part of an assault on immigrant populations since the early days of his administration. Holder said the state has a right to step in to protect the health and safety of its residents. The sanctuary law, he said, was crafted to ensure that law enforcement and federal immigration agencies could work together when public safety was at stake.

Officially dubbed the “California Values Act,” the law prohibits alerting federal immigration agents of an inmate’s release from a county jail — unless the information is already available to the public, or if the person has been convicted of any of the 800 offenses outlined in a 2013 state law.

Holder and his firm, Covington & Burling, were hired last year by the Senate and Assembly to serve as outside counsel to offer advice on the state’s legal strategy against the incoming administration. All his work has since that initial contract has been pro bono. In September, he filed another brief on behalf of the California Senate supporting the city of Chicago in a lawsuit against the Justice Department over its plan to withhold federal money from “sanctuary cities.”

“The president is plotting with anti-immigrant Republican politicians against policies that keep our residents safe by lying about what the California Values Act does and lying about immigrants,” Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles), who authored the sanctuary state law, state in a statement. “Californians have seen this kind of scapegoating before, and we won’t fall for it.”

For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com