While the Los Angeles City Council celebrated the passing of a sanctuary city ordinance Tuesday, it may have been more symbolic as California’s sanctuary state law already enforces protective measures for immigrants.
In fact, Senate Bill 54, which was signed into law in 2017 to prohibit California cities and counties from cooperating with federal immigration and customs officials in enforcing immigration laws or deportations, was authored by then State Senator Kevin de León, who is leaving his city council job after losing his reelection bid.
“(It’s) a little bit of belt and suspenders – a little bit of overlap,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta told NBCLA Tuesday, describing the LA City Council’s sanctuary city ordinance.
Bonta also highlighted there are exceptions to the sanctuary state law, including for undocumented immigrants with a criminal history.
If a person in custody had been convicted of a serious or violent felony, he or she can also be held for deportation.
While President-elect Trump’s incoming border chief Tom Homan, who also served previously as the director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said he’s not requiring cities and states to cooperate with his immigration plans, he is willing to send ICE officers to neighborhoods to arrest undocumented immigrants, which could be more dangerous and disruptive to communities.
“If ICE wants to go back into the community and enforce immigration law, they may,” the attorney general said.
Bonta said he believes any effort for mass deportations, especially with the use of the military, will backfire.
“I think they don’t have the money, the personnel – at their own risk,” Bonta said.
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But not every city or county agrees with state officials. Some Southern California officials, including Newport Beach’s city leaders and Orange County’s sheriff, have been critical of the state law, saying the mandate limits them from enforcing immigration laws.
The mayor of Newport Beach Monday once again slammed the sanctuary state policy after a group of migrants on a boat were detained outside Newport Beach.
Mayor William O’Neil of Newport Beach said the U.S. Coast Guard stopped the boat with 21 people attempting to enter the country illegally after spotting the 34-foot vessel “behaving irregularly” one mile west of Newport Beach last Thursday evening.
O’Neil said while most of the people on the boat were Mexican nationals, there were a Russian national and two Uzbekistan nationals.
“Clearly folks traveling from Uzbekistan through Mexico to enter our country illegally on a boat off the Orange County coast is – or at least should be – out of the ordinary,” the Newport Beach mayor said in a social media post.
“SB54 severely limits how much local law enforcement can cooperate with federal authorities to enforce immigration law,” O’Neil said, explaining how he and the Newport Beach City Council unanimously opposed that legislation in 2017.
