California Democrats are pushing through legislation that would make it incredibly more difficult for federal immigration authorities to operate in the state.
The California State Senate passed several bills between Monday and Tuesday calling for severe restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents’ ability to make arrests at schools, hospitals and shelters. All bills now head to the California State Assembly where, like its counterpart in the upper chamber, Democratic lawmakers dominate.
SB 48 would prohibit ICE agents from entering non-public areas of schools without a warrant, SB 81 would apply similar restrictions to hospitals and SB 841 would limit access of domestic violence and homeless shelters to ICE agents.
Passage of the bills, which largely fell along party lines, marks the latest efforts by California Democrats to oppose the Trump administration’s nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration.
Just days after President Donald Trump’s re-election victory, the Los Angeles City Council passed an ordinance officially designating Los Angeles as a “sanctuary city,” a move that restricts local authorities from helping federal immigration authorities. In December, the Democrat-controlled San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted to double down on its local anti-ICE policies with an ordinance that has since been dubbed a “super sanctuary” law by opponents.
The Trump administration has fought back against the sanctuary policies ushered in California and elsewhere.
Border czar Tom Homan told the Daily Caller News Foundation in December that the new laws would not hinder ICE’s mission, but simply result in more deportation officers operating in sanctuary jurisdictions. Trump in April signed an executive order directing the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to identify sanctuary jurisdictions and apply federal funding cuts and wage lawsuits where necessary.
If signed into law by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California Senate bills would torpedo recent policy changes made by the Trump administration.
Immediately after Trump returned to the White House, DHS rescinded Biden-era restrictions on so called “sensitive locations,” areas such as schools and hospitals where ICE agents were largely prohibited from conducting enforcement actions. The new directive effectively unshackled the agency and gave at-large illegal migrants nowhere to hide.
Several high-profile cases across the country indicate that illegal migrants have taken refuge in such sensitive locations. A self-proclaimed teenager attended an Ohio high school for more than a year until local officials learned in May that he was actually a 24-year-old father living illegally in the country, and an internal Massachusetts report in January revealed that the state’s family-immigrant shelter was rife with rape and sexual assault allegations.
The aforementioned bills are not the only reforms California Democrats are pushing through to limit ICE’s job capabilities. The State Senate also passed a bill that would require California health departments to shield parents’ countries of birth from the public when issuing birth certificates and passed another bill that would prohibit local governments from sharing information about licensed street vendors with federal immigration authorities.
A spokesperson for the California state house minority leader did not respond to a request for comment about the slate of bills to be voted on.
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