Sheriffs in California are urging Congress to intervene after California’s legislature passes a state-wide sanctuary bill into law. The bill critically impedes all law enforcement’s ability to keep California safe from criminal illegals and drug trafficking gang members.
The sanctuary state bill will make it a criminal offence for police to enforce any federal immigration policies.
California Democratic Governor Jerry Brown signed the sanctuary state law on Thursday, which will take full effect next January. The law is considered to be the most far reaching of its kind in the nation and bars local law enforcement from communicating with federal immigration authorities.
Numerous law enforcement authorities have sounded the alarm on this truly criminal and irresponsible piece of legislation, saying that Californians will suffer from high crime rates, murder rates, and hosts of other tragically avoidable incidents because of the new law.
Jonathan Thompson, CEO and Executive Director of the National Sheriffs’ Association, stated that sheriffs all over America are gravely “saddened and disappointed” by the governor’s decision to sign this “reckless” legislation.
“It is unfortunate that California’s law enforcement has become pawns in this political game, but they will continue to do their jobs diligently to protect their communities,” he said.
“We also implore leaders in Washington to take action and pass sensible legislation that would prevent careless legislation from hamstringing law enforcement and would give them the tools to combat dangerous policies like this.”
A large majority of the California’s sheriffs say that the new law places a sharp limit on their abilities to remove known criminals from the communities.
“If a gang member is arrested or charged with misdemeanor or a felony that is not covered by the law, we would be precluded from contacting ICE,” California State Sherrifs’ Associate President Bill Brown said.
“My concern is that, statewide, we’re going to have this issue—that you end up with a known gang member in custody for a particular crime that is not covered and we wouldn’t be able to make that notification.”
Trump’s Department of Justice, headed by Jeff Sessions, is working hard to stop other states and cities from following California’s example. “The State of California has now codified a commitment to returning criminal aliens back onto our streets, which undermines public safety, national security, and law enforcement,” said Devin O’Malley, spokesman for the Justice Department.
“Given the multiple high-profile incidents that have occurred in California in recent years, it is especially disappointing that state leaders have made it law to limit cooperation between local jurisdictions and immigration authorities attempting to keep Californians safe,” he added.
Sessions has repeatedly warned that he will block federal grants for sanctuary states that fail to comply with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s requests to arrest or report immigrants held for crimes.
