California Sheriffs Protest Anti-Secure Communities Bill
California Sheriffs Protest Anti-Secure Communities Bill
By Jon Feere, August 28, 2012
The California legislature has passed a bill designed to shield illegal aliens from law enforcement and it currently sits on Gov. Jerry Brown's desk. The "Trust Act" (AB 1081) would prohibit local law enforcement from complying with federal detention requests except when an illegal alien has been convicted of, or charged with, a "serious" or "violent" felony. The crimes that would be a prerequisite for sending aliens to ICE custody include murder, rape, assault with intent to commit a rape or robbery, kidnapping, carjacking, and a number of other crimes. Many crimes like ID theft or ID fraud get a pass. Consequently, a number of sheriffs are worried that the plan would harm public safety; one sheriff has called on the governor to veto the bill, while another is contemplating defying the act if it becomes law.
Specifically, the Trust Act reads:
http://cis.org/sites/default/files/Police%20Car.png(a) A law enforcement official has the discretion to detain an individual on the basis of an immigration hold after that individual becomes eligible for release from criminal custody, if both of the following conditions are satisfied:
(1) The individual has been convicted of a serious or violent felony according to a criminal background check or documentation provided to the law enforcement official by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement or is currently in custody for a charge of a serious or violent felony by a district attorney.
(2) The continued detention of the individual on the basis of the immigration hold would not violate any federal, state, or local law, or any local policy.
(b) If either of the conditions set forth in subdivision (a) is not satisfied, an individual shall not be detained on the basis of an immigration hold after that individual becomes eligible for release from criminal custody.
The apparent goal of the assembly is to limit state-federal cooperation on immigration and marginalize the successful program known as Secure Communities. The program has taken tens of thousands of illegal aliens off the streets. Not surprisingly a new government report finds that when aliens caught under Secure Communities are released back out onto the streets, public safety suffers: Between October 2008 and July 2011 aliens released because of the Obama administration's prioritization scheme went on to commit 58,000 new crimes. California's Trust Act would likely have the same consequences.
In response, Riverside County Sheriff Stan Sniff wrote the following to Gov. Brown:In the decade after 9/11, and in response to shortfalls in our national Homeland Security, we have honed close partnerships between federal, state, and local enforcement that this [bill] now directly undermines. In addition, law enforcement agencies have executed legal agreements that are directly impacted by this bill, and we potentially place at risk of cancelation or repayment, millions of dollars in federal grant funds of all types where we certify compliance with federal laws. Or worse, we face years of protracted legal disputes, which will waste scarce county funds that are already very constrained. For these reasons, I oppose Assembly Bill 1081 and respectfully request that you veto this measure.
Meanwhile, the office of Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has promised it will respect detention requests from federal officials regardless of any impositions created by the Trust Act should it become law. According to Baca's spokesman:Our stance is that federal law trumps state law. If it were to move forward, we'd adhere to federal law, so we'd still honor ICE holds.
Similarly, Sonoma County Sheriff Steve Freitas noted:It would make me break either federal or state law. I would have to pick which one to break.
San Diego County Sheriff William Gore is reportedly ready to join the other sheriffs in ignoring the Trust Act if necessary.
The bill's lead author, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), argues that "California cannot afford to be another Arizona." He claims that the bill "limits unjust and onerous detentions for deportation in local jails of community members who do not pose a threat to public safety." Apparently, the assemblyman believes that millions of instances of ID theft pose no threat to public safety. He also seems to think that the enforcement of immigration laws is only justified in the instance of criminality; he fails to understand that immigration law serves the purpose of protecting national sovereignty and the value of citizenship.
A number of other goals — like prevention of illegal hiring practices or reducing strain on social and natural resources — are not on the assemblyman's radar.
This is a great bill for foreigners in the United States illegally who wish to continue engaging in ID theft and a whole host of other crimes. It is a horrible bill for the legal residents of California who want the rule of law to actually mean something. If California's legal residents cannot rely on law enforcement or their state representatives to protect them from lawlessness, does the state's Article 1, Section 1 constitutional declaration of the right of "safety, happiness, and privacy" really exist? And what of the following passage from Article 1, Section 28:California's victims of crime are largely dependent upon the proper functioning of government, upon the criminal justice system and upon the expeditious enforcement of the rights of victims of crime described herein, in order to protect the public safety and to secure justice when the public safety has been compromised by criminal activity.
To the extent that the Trust Act would protect aliens engaged in so-called "non-violent" crimes — which undoubtedly nonetheless compromise public safety — it would appear that the bill cannot be upheld under the state's own constitution.
California Sheriffs Protest Anti-Secure Communities Bill | Center for Immigration Studies
IMMIGRATION: Sheriff urges veto of bill on detainees
IMMIGRATION: Sheriff urges veto of bill on detainees
BY DAVID OLSON The Press Enterprise STAFF WRITER
dolson@pe.com
Published: 27 August 2012 08:51 PM
Riverside County Sheriff Stanley Sniff is urging Gov. Jerry Brown to veto a bill that would prevent police from handing over detainees arrested for non-violent crimes to federal immigration officials for possible deportation.
As Sniff and the California State Sheriffs’ Association pressure Brown for a veto, immigration activists from the Inland area and elsewhere are planning to rally on the state Capitol steps Tuesday, Aug. 28, in support of the legislation.
Riverside and San Bernardino counties are among more than 3,000 jurisdictions nationwide that share jail detainees’ fingerprints with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. More than 212,000 people have been deported under the program, called Secure Communities, since its inception in 2008.
But critics point to ICE statistics that show that most illegal immigrants in the Inland area and nationwide who have been deported under Secure Communities did not commit major crimes.
Sniff said Riverside County cannot ignore the federal government’s requests for fingerprints.
“This puts the sheriffs in California between a rock and a hard spot,” Sniff said Monday, Aug. 27. “We either have to violate federal law or defy state law.”
The state Senate last week approved the Trust Act and sent it to Brown’s desk. The governor has not yet decided whether to sign the bill, gubernatorial spokesman Gareth Lacy said.
Brown supported Secure Communities as attorney general.
San Bernardino County Sheriff Rod Hoops has not taken a position on the legislation, said sheriff’s department spokeswoman Jodi Miller.
The state’s Roman Catholic bishops are among the leading supporters of the bill.
John Andrews, spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino, which includes Riverside and San Bernardino counties, said Secure Communities casts too wide a net, ensnaring people who commit minor crimes.
Daniel Guzman, legal resources coordinator of the Justice for Immigrants Coalition of Inland Southern California, which includes the diocese, said deporting low-level offenders can lead to higher crime, because undocumented immigrants are less likely to interact with police.
“We want to make sure immigrants trust the police,” said Guzman, who said he will participate in Tuesday’s Sacramento Trust Act rally.
Only 21 percent of Inland illegal immigrants deported under Secure Communities since Riverside and San Bernardino counties joined the program in 2010 had been convicted of the most serious felonies, such as murder, rape, child sexual abuse and some categories of theft and burglary, ICE statistics show. Another 15 percent were convicted of less serious felonies, or three or more misdemeanors.
The rest were found guilty of fewer than three misdemeanors or had no record of a criminal conviction ICE could locate.
Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks, who represents parts of San Bernardino County, said the bill would make California “a sanctuary state for illegal alien criminals.”
Donnelly said some misdemeanors, such as driving under the influence, are not minor offenses.
“This is not about people coming here for a better life or any of that horse crap,” Donnelly said. “This is about whether more Americans will be killed by people who should not be in our communities.”
Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz said even though he wishes that Secure Communities be used in a more “surgical” manner and not lead to the deportation of people who commit the most minor crimes, he sees the Trust Act as overly constraining local law enforcement.
Chris Newman, legal director of the Los Angeles-based National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which works with day laborers in the Inland area and elsewhere, said by allowing the sharing of fingerprints of those held on “a serious or violent felony,” the bill targets dangerous criminals, not minor offenders.
“The Trust Act will make sure that people who are threats to public safety will remain behind bars,” Newman said.
But Sniff said people who commit the most minor offenses are typically not jailed and aren’t fingerprinted. He said Secure Communities does not undermine trust between illegal-immigrant victims and witnesses and police because it only affects detainees.
Sniff said he wants to wait to see if the bill is signed into law before deciding whether to defy state law — as Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said he may do — but he said that, in general, federal law trumps state law.
“To say we don’t have to comply with federal law is absurd,” he said.
Follow David Olson on Twitter: @DavidOlson11
Trust act
Secure Communities: The federal program requires local law-enforcement agencies to allow the fingerprints of all jail detainees to be shared with immigration authorities. That includes those who are arrested but not convicted, and those jailed on minor offenses.
The Trust Act: The bill, which has passed the state Assembly and Senate, would only allow the sharing of fingerprints of those charged or convicted of “serious or violent felony.”
IMMIGRATION: Sheriff urges veto of bill on detainees | Breaking News | PE.com - Press-Enterprise
