What does SB54 accomplish?
Still trying to sort out exactly what was gained by Senate Bill 54’s passing through the state Assembly and Senate recently? We are too.
At the very least we can say we live in a “Sanctuary State.” That’s something, right?
The original version of the bill authored by by Sen. Kevin de León (Dlos Angeles) was tougher, but what is headed for Governor Brown’s desk has been dramatically softened.
Surprisingly, the governor himself was the one to rein in the bill and make it easier to swallow. Brown had hinted he would not approve the initial version of SB54.
If you are wondering, it passed through the state legislature on party-line votes.
The original version would have stopped state and local law enforcement agencies from using resources to hold, question or share information about people with federal immigration agents, unless they had violent or serious criminal convictions.
But now, it does still allow federal immigration authorities to keep working with state corrections officials and to continue entering county jails to question immigrants. The legislation would also permit police and sheriffs to share information and transfer people to immigration authorities if they have been convicted of one or more crimes from a list of 800 outlined in a previous law, the California Trust Act.
Even if Brown does sign SB54, it still does not have the power to stop federal immigration authorities from coming into the state and deporting undocumented immigrants. But there is not much chance of that happening en masse for a prolonged period because the feds have limited resources.
Other than put an even larger target on California’s back in the eyes of the Trump administration, SB54 or the California Values Act, seemingly amounts to just more grandstanding by Democrats in control of the “Left Coast.”
Editorials in The Porterville Recorder are the opinion of the editorial board which consists of Assistant Publisher and Managing Editor Brian Williams. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily of The Recorder.