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11 California Cities Reject Sanctuary Policies

<p>Not all California cities are hell-bent on opposing President Trump&rsquo&semi;s immigration agenda&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As of this week&comma; 11 cities have joined the revolt against SB54 &&num;8211&semi; a California state law that shields illegal immigrants and restricts cooperation with federal immigration law enforcement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>SB54 was signed last October and went into effect on January 1st&period; In March&comma; Attorney General Jeff Sessions visited California to declare a lawsuit against SB54 and two other statutes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Dubbed the &&num;8220&semi;California Values Act&comma;&rdquo&semi; SB54 actually prohibits local cops from informing federal authorities when illegal immigrants facing deportation are released from detention&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;These state laws are preempted by federal laws&comma;&rdquo&semi; argues Orange County Supervisor Shawn Nelson&period; &ldquo&semi;Our officers actually face penalties under state law if they so much as talk to federal agents for the wrong thing&period; That&rsquo&semi;s just unacceptable and it&rsquo&semi;s contrary to federal law&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The movement against SB54 in California began with Los Alamitos&comma; a conservative city in Orange County&period; Last month&comma; the city voted 4-1 to exempt itself from SB54 and filed an amicus brief to join the DOJ lawsuit&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;We cannot let the state begin cherry-picking which federal laws it decides to follow&comma;&rdquo&semi; said Orange County Supervisor Michelle Steel&period; &ldquo&semi;As supervisors of this county&comma; we all took oaths to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States and bear true faith and allegiance to it against all enemies&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens responded to SB54 by publicizing the release dates for all inmates &&num;8211&semi; including illegals&period; Between January 1st and March 19th&comma; the agency released 172 criminal illegals back into the community because California law blocked authorities from notifying ICE&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;We have an obligation to safeguard our community and we will use every tool available to help hold criminals accountable&comma;&rdquo&semi; said Undersheriff Don Barnes&period; &ldquo&semi;Our inability to relinquish these individuals to the custody of ICE causes them to be returned to the communities which they prey upon&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Last week&comma; the cities of Newport Beach&comma; Orange&comma; and Westminster voted to join Los Alamitos in opposition of SB54&period; Other cities are holding debates on the matter&comma; and based on prior opposition to the state&rsquo&semi;s sanctuary laws&comma; at least some of these cities will join the revolt&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;This is not an immigration issue&period; We&rsquo&semi;re all immigrants in this country&comma;&rdquo&semi; says Newport Beach Councilman Scott Peotter&period; &ldquo&semi;It is really &lbrack;about&rsqb; our police force being able to effectively fight criminals and coordinate with other agencies that do the same&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8212&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The growing movement to reject SB54 comes alongside Trump&rsquo&semi;s decision to send between 2&comma;000 and 4&comma;000 National Guard troops to protect the border until the wall is built&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>California Governor Jerry Brown last week quietly agreed to accept troops into California but made it clear they would not be allowed to enforce federal immigration law&period; One official suggested that troops could even be blocked from accessing the southern border&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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