Valley won’t escape war over immigration
State and federal legislators representing Imperial Valley are among those ready to fight the federal government over California immigration laws.
On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions filed a federal lawsuit in Sacramento to challenge three state laws that bar police from asking people about their citizenship status or participating in federal immigration enforcement activities.
“The Trump administration’s anti-immigrant tactics are undermining the safety of our state’s law enforcement officials and our communities through fear-mongering and misinformation,” said Rep. Juan Vargas, who represents District 51 that covers parts of San Diego and the Imperial County.
“The federal government should recognize that states and localities have the right to establish laws that are best for their communities and local public safety,” he added.
Those laws were the start of a feud between the state and the Donald Trump administration on immigration rules.
The state has resisted the president on several issues, including thwarting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from mass deportations.
“How dare you?” Sessions asked of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf during a state Peace Officers Association meeting Tuesday in Sacramento, referring to Schaaf’s unusual public warning last month about an immigration operation.
“How dare you needlessly endanger the lives of law enforcement just to promote your radical open borders agenda?” Sessions added.
On Tuesday, Schaaf responded, “How dare you vilify members of the community, distract people from a broken immigration system that breaks up families and distort the reality of declining violent crime in a ‘sanctuary city’ like Oakland?”
Local economy
Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, who represents the Imperial County and parts of Coachella County, said immigrants contribute about $715 billion to the state’s gross domestic product revenue.
“Tourism, service and agriculture sustain the economies of areas I represent,” he said “These vital industries are predominantly reliant upon a steady immigrant workforce. California agriculture alone is a $42.6 billion industry, whose productivity stands in jeopardy with current federal immigration unease and fear-mongering.”
Earlier this year, he introduced AB 1885, which would bring more agricultural workers amid a labor shortage due to heightened federal immigration enforcement.
The bill would create a work-permit program for farm workers and service-industry employees who are not legal U.S. residents.
Three controversial laws
SB 54, AB 450 and AB 103 are the three laws Sessions will challenge in the lawsuit. SB 54 prohibits state and local officials from sharing information with immigration authorities under certain circumstances. It also bars transfers of certain immigrants to federal custody.
AB 450 forbids private employers from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement at the workplace, and AB 103 seeks to regulate contract detention facilities used to hold federal immigration prisoners.
The Imperial Regional Detention Facility is one of those facilities contracted by the government to house federal immigration prisoners.
It is located east of Calexico and opened on Sept. 22, 2014. Warden John Rathman did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the lawsuit or AB 103, which prohibits immigration detention facilities in the state from expanding and gives the state the right to monitor them.
Mass deportations in California
According to a FOX news report, it is estimated that 2.5 million immigrants are living in California illegally and a recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement report stated about 16 percent of its enforcement apprehensions take place in the state. Last week, a raid of illegal immigrants in California netted hundreds of criminals, many with convictions for violent crimes.
The raid in the San Francisco Bay area led to 232 arrests of illegal immigrants, 180 of whom ICE said were convicted criminals. Of those, 115 had prior felonies for serious or violent offenses, such as sex crimes, weapons charges and assault.
That’s when Schaaf tweeted out a warning of the raid before it happened. ICE Acting Director Tom Homan said that led to as many as 800 illegal immigrants fleeing before they could be arrested.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Wednesday slammed the raid as “unjust and cruel.”
“The people of California will not be bowed by the Trump Administration’s brazen aggression and intimidation tactics,” Pelosi said.
Republicans back Sessions
While President Donald Trump has yet to speak on the lawsuit, some Republicans and law enforcement officials are praising Sessions for the lawsuit.
“California has chosen to purposefully contradict the will and the responsibility of the Congress to protect our homeland,” Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in a statement. “I appreciate the efforts of Attorney General Sessions and the Department of Justice to uphold the rule of law and protect American communities.”
Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford tweeted, “Homeland security and immigration is primarily a federal government responsibility. To keep families safe and maintain an orderly immigration system, states must work with, not against, federal entities.”
On Wednesday, the White House also confirmed Trump will make a trip to California on March 13 to inspect the border wall prototypes near the Otay Mesa port of entry. The president is then to attend a Republican fundraiser in Los Angeles. Trump has not visited California since he was sworn into office.
Going to war
On Wednesday, California Gov. Jerry Brown criticized Sessions for the lawsuit, saying he was “initiating a reign of terror” against immigrants in the state.
“This is basically going to war against the state of California, the engine of the American economy,” Brown said. “It’s not wise; it’s not right, and it will not stand.”