Bill shields immigrant witnesses
SACRAMENTO — Adopting another measure to counter the Trump administration, the California Senate on Thursday sent Gov. Jerry Brown a bill that would bar the disclosure of the immigration status of crime victims and witnesses in open court unless a judge rules the information is relevant to the case.
Sen. Scott Wiener (DSan Francisco) introduced the bill after the state’s top judge expressed concerns over reports of immigration agents following immigrants in California courthouses. The efforts were seen as part of President Trump’s call for increased enforcement by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Currently we know that ICE is in our courthouses,” Wiener told his colleagues before the vote. “We also know that there are situations where attorneys will ask witnesses on the stand about their immigration status whether or not it’s relevant to the case.”
The proposal is the latest in a series of bills aimed at protecting immigrants who are in the country illegally. The state previously has restricted the ability of local law enforcement and businesses to cooperate with federal immigration agents.
California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, a supporter of the new legislation, has said there are no data on how many or how often immigrants have been detained. But at courthouses, she said, federal immigration agents have reportedly picked up domestic violence victims, and at probation offices, they have demanded to see the list of people due to appear “to check all the foreign-sounding names.”
The bill would prohibit a person’s immigration status from being revealed in open court unless a judge finds in a videotaped hearing that it is admissible evidence. The new law would protect witnesses, victims and defendants, and it would apply in all criminal cases and most civil cases, except those involving personal injury or wrongful death.
Wiener said disclosing that some alleged crime victims or witnesses are in the U.S. illegally has a chilling effect on immigrants cooperating in legal proceedings, which includes serving as witnesses against criminals.
“SB 785 is a bill that will allow immigrants to testify in court without fear that their immigration status will be used on the stand to harass them and really to dissuade immigrants from even coming to court to testify,” Wiener said before the bipartisan 31-6 vote.
He said the measure will improve public safety “by making people comfortable going to court to testify.”
The measure was opposed by the California News Publishers Assn., which found that the measure interfered with the public’s right to monitor the judicial system. The group said a videotaped hearing banned people from attending meetings that would occur in private chambers.
Jim Ewert, CNPA general counsel, said the proposed law “chips away at the integrity of the system.” “The courts are presumptively open, and that has been a constitutional and historical standard for centuries in this country,” he said.
As an urgency measure, the bill was previously approved by a two-thirds vote of the state Assembly, and it would take effect immediately if Brown signs it.
The proposed law is cowritten by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) and supported by San Francisco Dist. Atty. George Gascón and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights.