California Lawmakers Want to Put a Microscope on Local Police Cooperation with ICE

Once again highlighting the absurdity of their “sanctuary policies” California lawmakers are afraid that local law enforcement is helping ICE and CBP “too much” in making immigration arrests!

Citing fear of authoritarianism and invasive surveillance, California lawmakers voted this last week to audit the operation of joint intelligence centers where federal, state, and local agencies share information.

The decision was made along party lines by the Joint Committee on Legislative Audit, a 14-member body made up of members of the California Senate and Assembly. Nine members voted in favor, one against, and four did not vote. The audit will be conducted by State Auditor Grant Parks.

Advocacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Oakland Privacy urged lawmakers to demand the audit to rein in what they described as abuses at the facilities, known as fusion centers. They cited an incident in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement reportedly asked La Habra police to run searches on its behalf at an Orange County fusion center and several others in which San Francisco police circumvented a local ban on facial recognition by asking for help from a fusion center with access to the technology.

CalMatters investigations last year and last month found instances where local law enforcement agencies shared license plate information with ICE or the Border Patrol, violating state law. California Attorney General Rob Bonta sent letters to more than a dozen local law enforcement agencies since 2024 for potential violations of the state law banning it and sued the City of El Cajon for allegedly violating the ban.

Sen. Sabrina Cervantes, a Democrat from Riverside, requested the audit. She believes that fusion centers have undermined state law that prohibits cooperation with federal law enforcement agencies for immigration purposes.

No Republicans on the committee voted in support of the audit, with one opposing it and three not voting. Carl DeMaio, a Republican from San Diego, called it “a political witch hunt” that places the needs of immigrants over American citizens and, with the war in Iran, comes at a time when we need the centers to detect terrorism threats.

“This is not the time to politicize when homeland security is being stretched,” he said at the hearing.

The audit will seek details about three California fusion centers, including:

• Information about violations of legal authority and policies for the past decade and disciplinary actions taken in response.
• What state and local law enforcement personnel are assigned to the fusion centers. 
• What private sector entities work with fusion centers.
• Which state or local officials oversee fusion center activity to ensure compliance with state and local law.