CALIFORNIA, home to the biggest Filipino population in America, is divided, and so are kababayans in the Golden State, when it comes to the “sanctuary state” policy enacted into law by Governor Jerry Brown last year.
The poll published by UC Berkeley’s progressive-leaning Haas Institute on Wednesday, April 18, revealed the paradox that while 70 percent of Californians agreed that immigrants strengthen America, 59 percent backed an increase in deportations. Despite these findings, however, this poll conducted in December 2017 of 2,440 Californians also found that 66 percent rejected the idea that Trump’s border wall is an important priority of immigration policy.
The law that designates California as a sanctuary state became effective on January 1, 2018, restricts local authorities’ cooperation with federal immigration authorities to allow people who have entered America illegally to live and work without the threat of deportation. Prior to this, many cities in the Golden State have already been sanctuary cities like San Francisco.
The law — California Values Act — is intended to “protect the safety and well-being of all Californians by ensuring that state and local resources are not used to fuel mass deportations, separate families, or terrorize our communities. The bill will provide essential safeguards to ensure that police, schools, health facilities, courts, and the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement remain accessible to Californians from all walks of life and that California’s limited resources are directed to matters of greatest concern to state and local governments.”
The statewide California law mandates:
Law enforcement may not comply with an ICE detainer unless the detainee: (1) has been convicted of a specific serious or violent felony; (2) has been convicted of a felony punishable by imprisonment; (3) has been convicted in the past 5 years of a misdemeanor for a crime that could have been punishable either as a misdemeanor or a felony, (specifically listed crimes include child abuse, bribery, gang-related offenses or driving under the influence, but only for a conviction that is a felony); (4) is a registrant in the California Sex and Arson Registry; (5) has been arrested on suspicion of a serious or violent felony and a magistrate has made a finding that there is probable cause to hold the person for that charge; or (6) has been convicted of certain federal aggravated felonies or is subject to a federal felony arrest warrant. Even then, AB 4 gives state and local law enforcement officials the option of not complying with an ICE detainer request.
HOWEVER, since President Donald Trump’s election and his fight against sanctuary cities, counties, and states, conservative-controlled areas have been opposing the sanctuary state policy.
As Newsweek reported, these jurisdictions include the city council of Las Alamitos in Orange County, which voted to exempt itself from Brown’s Senate Bill 54 in April. Orange County leaders have also joined a federal lawsuit by the U.S. Justice Department against California’s state sanctuary law. So has Escondido City Council and San Diego County.
BUT as The Filipino Channel’s daily newscast “Balitang America” (BA) reported on Thursday, April 19, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) fired back with a lawsuit, which lists the group Los Alamitos Community United as plaintiffs. The lawsuit claims that the city violated state laws and have put public safety at risk.
According to a report by BA’s LA Correspondent, Steve Angeles, despite the growing number of anti-sanctuary cities, Los Alamitos for now, will be the only one facing legal action.
Newsweek reported that Brown spoke before the National Press Club on April 17, saying, ”I am concerned about our borders” and cited problems with guns, drugs and human trafficking.
“California’s a very diverse state. We have many different congressional districts and cities. And they think differently.”
“I would say that the law as I signed it was very different than the law that was originally introduced. California works with the immigration service all the time. They’re working daily with our state prison system as well as other law enforcement people, “Brown explained.
“But we do say we’re not going to do the work of the federal government. Under the law, we’re not required to. We’re not interfering with it. But we are doing our work.”
DO YOU SUPPORT California’s sanctuary state policy?
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are solely those of the auth or and not of the Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos.
