Calif. sees resistance from inside

Local entities defy state in battle over sanctuary directive

SANTA ANA, Calif. — More local governments in California are resisting the state’s efforts to resist the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Since the Jeff Sessions-led Department of Justice sued California last month over its so-called “sanctuary state” law limiting police collaboration with immigration agents, at least a dozen local governments have voted to either join or support the lawsuit or for resolutions opposing the state’s position.

Those include the Board of Supervisors in Orange County, which has more than 3 million people.

More action is coming this week, with leaders in the Orange County city of Los Alamitos scheduled to vote Monday on a proposal for a local law to exempt the community of 12,000 from the state law.

On Tuesday, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors is meeting to consider joining the Trump administration lawsuit.

Immigration has been a hot topic across the country since 2016, but it has been a lightning rod issue in California for far longer.

The state passed a measure backed by Republican Gov. Pete Wilson in the 1990s to deny public health care and education to immigrants in the country illegally. It was later overturned but left a lingering resentment among the state’s growing Hispanic population.

In recent years, California Republicans have taken a less strident approach to immigration. But the Trump administration lawsuit has energized many in a party that has been rendered nearly irrelevant at the state level, where Democrats control every key office.

“When the attorney general of the United States decides to take a firm position against it, I think that gave a signal to a lot of us that, ‘Hey, California is on the wrong side of this thing,’” said Fred Whitaker, chairman of the Republican Party in Orange County.

Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles, said it’s not surprising Republicans are galvanizing over immigration.

“Politics is very much about emotions, especially in midterms,” he said. “I think it was only a matter of time (before) people went back to the issue that actually hits the nerve in the Republican base these days more than any other.”