California Senate Bill 54 (2017)

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California Senate Bill 54 (2017)
Seal of California.svg
California State Legislature
Full nameCalifornia Senate Bill 54
IntroducedDecember 6, 2017
Assembly votedSeptember 15, 2017
Senate votedSeptember 16, 2017
Signed into lawOctober 5, 2017
Sponsor(s) Kevin de León
Governor Jerry Brown
CodeHealth and Safety
Website leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB54
Status: Current legislation

2017 California Senate Bill 54, commonly referred to as "SB 54" and also known as the "California Values Act" is a 2017 California state law that prevents state and local law enforcement agencies from using their resources on behalf of federal immigration enforcement agencies. [1] The law allows for cooperation between local, state and federal law enforcement in cases of violent illegal immigrants, and is often referred to as a "sanctuary law" due to its resemblance of sanctuary jurisdiction policies. [1]

Contents

According to a 2020 study, the law had no significant impact on violent and property crime rates in California. [2]

A legal challenge by the federal government was unsuccessful in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. [3] The Supreme Court declined to hear the case. [4]

Background

The bill was passed as a response to Executive Order 13768, President Trump's initiative to oppose sanctuary cities and other jurisdictions that refuse to collaborate with federal immigration authorities, and to his stepped up deportations of illegal immigrants. [5]

The bill was introduced by State Senate President Kevin de Leon. [6] The bill passed the Senate on September 16, 2017 27–11 on a party-line vote, with all Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans voting against. The bill passed the Assembly 51–26 on September 15, 2017, with all Republicans and three Democrats voting against. [6] Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill after its passage. [7]

Provisions

The Sanctuary Law, a sequel to the 2013 state law called the California Trust Act, is designed to prevent local law enforcement agencies from detaining undocumented immigrants who are eligible for deportation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for violating immigration laws except in cases where the undocumented immigrants have been convicted of serious or violent felonies, or of misdemeanors that can be classified as such felonies. [5] [8] Such policies have been in place in many California cities and counties for decades. [9]

Political impact

The law has received both significant support and opposition. [10] An online poll conducted by UC Berkeley in April 2018 found that 56% of voters support the law and 41% oppose it. [11]

In March 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of California, alleging that SB 54 and other laws aimed at reducing cooperation in the state with federal immigration authorities were unconstitutional. [12] The lawsuit was dismissed in July 2018 by judge John Mendez of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, stating in his opinion that "The Court does not find any indication in the cited federal statutes that Congress intended for States to have no oversight over detention facilities operating within their borders." [13]

The bill was a significant issue during the 2018 elections. [14] [8]

The December 2018 killing of Ronil Singh re-inflamed debate over the new law, with some claiming that the law prevented the perpetrator from being deported before the murder took place. [15] Governor Brown has denied that Singh's murder by an illegal immigrant had anything to do with California's new sanctuary law. [16]

Also in December 2018, an undocumented immigrant who had twice been deported, but who had returned to the United States illegally, was arrested on a misdemeanor charge but released under the new sanctuary law, and then embarked on a 24-hour shooting spree in Tulare County, killing two and injuring seven, before crashing his car and dying. Sheriff Mike Boudreaux told the press that a "tool has been removed from our hands," and that, because the county could not turn the shooter over to ICE for deportation, "our county was shot up by a violent criminal." [17] [18]

Several cities and local governments in California declared their opposition to the state's sanctuary policies and passed ordinances to that effect. Most of these ordinances are symbolic however, some have joined the Trump administrations lawsuit against California. These cities and counties include: Orange County Board of Supervisors, San Diego County Board of Supervisors, Aliso Viejo, Beaumont, Dana Point, Escondido, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, Newport Beach, Orange, Ripon, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Clarita, Westminster, and Yorba Linda. [19] [20]

See also

Related Research Articles

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threaten national security and public safety.

Immigration reduction refers to a government and social policy in the United States that advocates a reduction in the amount of immigration allowed into the country. Steps advocated for reducing the numbers of immigrants include advocating stronger action to prevent illegal entry and illegal migration, and reductions in non-immigrant temporary work visas. Some advocate tightening the requirements for legal immigration requirements to reduce numbers, or move the proportions of legal immigrants away from those on family reunification programs to skills-based criteria.

Reforming the immigration policy of the United States is a subject of political discourse and contention. Immigration has played an essential part in American history. Some claim that the United States maintains the world's most liberal immigration policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illegal immigration to the United States</span> Immigration to the United States in violation of US law

Foreign nationals (aliens) can violate US immigration laws by entering the United States unlawfully or lawfully entering but then remaining after the expiration of their visas, parole, TPS, etc. Illegal immigration has been a matter of intense debate in the United States since the 1980s.

Elvira Arellano is an international activist who works to defend the human rights of immigrants living in the U.S. without legal authorization.

A sanctuary city is a municipality that limits or denies its cooperation with the national government in enforcing immigration law. Leaders of sanctuary cities say they want to reduce fear of deportation and possible family break-up among people who are in the country illegally, so that such people will be more willing to report crimes, use health and social services, and enroll their children in school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immigration detention in the United States</span>

The United States government holds tens of thousands of immigrants in detention under the control of Customs and Border Protection and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Immigrants are detained for unlawful entry to the United States, when their claims for asylum are received, and in the process of deportation and removal from the country. During Fiscal Year 2018, 396,448 people were booked into ICE custody: 242,778 of whom were detained by CBP and 153,670 by ICE's own enforcement operations. A daily average of 42,188 immigrants were held by ICE in that year. In addition, over twelve thousand immigrant children are housed by facilities under the supervision of the Office of Refugee Resettlement's program for Unaccompanied Alien Children. Prior to referral to these other agencies, the CBP holds immigrants at processing centers; between mid-May and mid-June 2019, it held between 14,000 and 18,000 immigrants.

There are thought to be over half a million undocumented immigrants residing in New York City. They come from many parts of the world, especially Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Caribbean. About 70% of them have paid work, in catering, construction, retail, driving, cleaning, and many other trades; at least in catering, their wages tend to be lower than those of comparable workers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals</span> Obama administration immigration policy

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, colloquially referred to as DACA, is a United States immigration policy that allows some individuals with unlawful presence in the United States after being brought to the country as children to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and become eligible for an employment authorization document in the U.S. To be eligible for the program, recipients cannot have felonies or serious misdemeanors on their records. Unlike the proposed DREAM Act, DACA does not provide a path to citizenship for recipients. The policy, an executive branch memorandum, was announced by President Barack Obama on June 15, 2012. This followed a campaign by immigrants, advocates and supporters which employed a range of tactics. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began accepting applications for the program on August 15, 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deportation and removal from the United States</span>

Deportation and removal from the United States occurs when the U.S. government orders a person to leave the country. In fiscal year 2014, Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted 315,943 removals. Criteria for deportations are set out in 8 U.S.C. § 1227.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Kate Steinle</span> 2015 homicide in San Francisco

On July 1, 2015, 32-year-old Kathryn "Kate" Steinle was shot and killed while walking with her father and a friend along Pier 14 in the Embarcadero district of San Francisco. She was hit in the back by a single bullet. The man who fired the gun, José Inez García Zárate, said he had found it moments before, wrapped in cloth beneath a bench on which he was sitting, and that when he picked it up the weapon went off. The shot ricocheted off the concrete deck of the pier and struck the victim, who was about 90 feet (27m) away. Steinle died two hours later in a hospital as a result of her injuries.

A sanctuary campus is any college or university, typically in North America and Western Europe, that adopts policies to protect members of the campus community who are undocumented immigrants. The term is modeled after "sanctuary city", a status that has been adopted by over 30 municipalities. Proposed policies on sanctuary campuses include:

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Thomas Douglas Homan is an American former police officer and government official who served during the Trump Administration as Acting Director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from January 30, 2017 to June 29, 2018. Within the U.S. government, he is among the earliest proponents of separating children from their parents as a means of deterring illegal entry into the country. Since his retirement from government, he has been a Fox News contributor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Executive Order 13768</span> Executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump

Executive Order 13768 titled Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States was signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on January 25, 2017. The order stated that "sanctuary jurisdictions" including sanctuary cities that refused to comply with immigration enforcement measures would not be "eligible to receive Federal grants, except as deemed necessary for law enforcement purposes" by the U.S. Attorney General or Secretary of Homeland Security.

As of July 1, 2022, 18 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico issue driver's licenses or permits to some or all of the population residing without inspection in the United States. State laws permitting this are on the books in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico, Nevada, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.

The issue of crimes committed by illegal immigrants to the United States is a topic that is often asserted and debated in politics and the media when discussing Immigration policy in the United States.

<i>United States v. Joseph</i> US prosecution of a judge for allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant evade detention

United States v. Shelley M. Richmond Joseph and Wesley MacGregor (2019) was the federal criminal prosecution of a Massachusetts state court judge (Joseph) and court officer (MacGregor) for helping a state court defendant evade federal immigration authorities by allowing him to leave a court hearing through a rear door of the courthouse. Both were charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, aiding and abetting obstruction of justice, and aiding and abetting obstruction of a federal proceeding; MacGregor was also charged with perjury during grand jury proceedings. Joseph faced 20 years in prison; MacGregor, 30 years. Both could have been fined $250,000. On September 22, 2022, the case concluded with an announcement by federal prosecutors that the obstruction charges against both Joseph and MacGregor would be dismissed and that prosecution of the perjury charge against MacGregor would be deferred. As part of the resolution, Joseph agreed to submit to disciplinary proceedings before the Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immigration policy of the Joe Biden administration</span>

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References

  1. 1 2 "Separating fact from fiction on CA's Sanctuary State law". PolitiFact California. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  2. ↑ Kubrin, Charis E.; Bartos, Bradley J. (2020). "Sanctuary Status and Crime in California: What's the Connection?". Justice Evaluation Journal. 3 (2): 115–133. doi:10.1080/24751979.2020.1745662. ISSN   2475-1979.
  3. ↑ "UNITED STATES V. STATE OF CALIFORNIA" (PDF).
  4. ↑ "United States v. California". SCOTUSblog. Retrieved 2020-06-16.
  5. 1 2 Kopetman, Roxana (4 May 2018). "California's sanctuary law, SB54: Here's what it is — and isn't". Orange County Register. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  6. 1 2 "SB-54 Law enforcement: sharing data". leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. California State Legislature . Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  7. ↑ Siders, David (5 October 2017). "Brown signs 'sanctuary state' bill in California". Politico. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  8. 1 2 Raphelson, Samatha; Hobson, Jeremy; Bentley, Chris (17 October 2018). "California Sanctuary Law Divides State In Fierce Immigration Debate". National Public Radio . Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  9. ↑ Mancina, P. 2013 “The birth of a sanctuary-city: a history of governmental sanctuary in San Francisco”. In R.K. Lippert and S. Rehaag (Eds) Sanctuary Practices in International Perspectives: Migration, Citizenship and Social Movements. Abingdon, UK, Routledge: 205–218.
  10. ↑ Raphelson, Samantha; Hobson, Jeremy; Bentley, Chris (October 17, 2018). "California Sanctuary Law Divides State In Fierce Immigration Debate". NPR . Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  11. ↑ Luna, Taryn (April 27, 2018). "California voters like 'sanctuary state' immigration law – but not everyone is on board". The Sacramento Bee . Sacramento, California. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  12. ↑ Downs, Ray (March 7, 2018). "DoJ sues California over 'sanctuary' laws". UPI . Boca Raton, Florida. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  13. ↑ Downs, Ray (July 9, 2018). "Judge tosses most of DOJ challenge to California 'sanctuary' laws". UPI . Boca Raton, Florida. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  14. ↑ Kopetman, Roxana (4 May 2018). "California sanctuary law is on the books, and hot topic on campaign trail". Orange County Register. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  15. ↑ Rodriguez, Olga (29 December 2018). "California officer's killing reignites sanctuary law fight". AP. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  16. ↑ Chaitin, Daniel (6 January 2019). "Jerry Brown: Death of police officer Ronil Singh 'had nothing to do' with California's 'sanctuary' status". Washington Examiner. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  17. ↑ Farzan, Antonia Noori (20 December 2018). "After a shooting suspect's 'reign of terror,' a California sheriff blames the state's sanctuary law". The Washington Post . Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  18. ↑ Norman, Greg (20 December 2014). "California cops 'frustrated' with sanctuary laws stopping them from working with ICE over twice-deported criminal". Fox News. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  19. ↑ "California cities are rebelling against state sanctuary law, but how far can they go?". The Mercury News. 2018-04-23. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  20. ↑ Agrawal, Nina (2018-05-09). "Santa Clarita opposes California's 'sanctuary' law, the first city in L.A. County to do so". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-03-19.
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