Escondido City Council voting on sanctuary policy lawsuit
Amanda Brandeis, Zac Self
7:08 PM, Apr 4, 2018
1 min ago
ESCONDIDO, Calif. (KGTV) -- City leaders voted Wednesday night to join the federal lawsuit against California's sanctuary laws.
Immigrant communities in Escondido believe their leaders are out of touch. "What's being discussed inside chambers is not representative of the values in my community,” said Lilian Serrano.
Escondido’s Mayor Sam Abed on the other hand believes coordination with local authorities and ICE is critical to keeping Escondido safe. He believes that California’s sanctuary laws place citizens in danger.
https://www.10news.com/news/escondid...policy-lawsuit
Escondido and Sanctuary Laws: State must follow U.S. immigration laws
Note: Author is Mayor of Escondido.
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April 12, 2018
SAM ABED
Imagine coming home from a vacation to find another family living in your home. They are poor, in need of work, and forced their way in to have somewhere to live. Their needs are obvious. You are a compassionate person. However, the fact remains, it is your home and you decide who may enter and stay. Normally, your first call is to the local police.
The State of California has turned this obvious reaction on its head. In the context of immigration, under the state’s view, you would be prohibited from calling the appropriate authorities and just have to live with these intruders.
Senate Bill 54, and related anti-immigration enforcement laws, are the latest petty salvo in the political war between California Democrats and President Donald Trump. It prohibits the long-standing practice of local police working with federal immigration authorities in most routine circumstances.
If a cop in any California city pulls a driver over for a traffic offense and finds out the driver is in the country illegally, except in very limited circumstances, that same cop is now prohibited by California’s Legislature from calling Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It does not matter whether the officer wants to or not. It does not matter how potentially dangerous that suspect may be to innocent Californians. The law forbids the call.
This state micromanagement of our police goes even further. Every city police department in the state of California is now forbidden from providing office space to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department.
You read that correctly: forbidden. We clearly have too many legislators with too much time on their hands when they start worrying about the floor plans of California’s police department buildings.
The only reason for singling out Immigration and Customs Enforcement is to further decrease the chances local police will cooperate with federal immigration authorities to allow them to effectively do their job.
Senate Bill 54 does not stop with police departments. The law prohibits cooperation between private businesses and ICE as well. For generations, civil rights groups have been applauded for taking a stand against unjust state government laws.
Now, cities and citizens brave enough to stand up to the state are shamed and intimidated from voicing their legitimate concerns. Senate Bill 54 is unjust to anyone who believes that private citizens and local law enforcement should have the right to voluntarily assist the federal government in its efforts to enforce existing federal immigration laws.
The supermajority state Legislature, safe from having to compromise with alternative political views, has hijacked the direction of this state to a result that is rejected by millions of Californians who never had a chance to vote on the laws that directly affect their safety.
California has now effectively announced to the world that people trying to enter the country illegally will find protection and safe harbor from federal laws. Millions of Californians are left to wonder how this all happened; nobody asked their opinion and they were never given the opportunity to vote on something so important to their lives.
Ironically, federal immigration authorities are not enforcing any new rules. The laws applicable to ICE today are pretty much the same as they were under the Obama administration. The difference is simply that the Trump administration decided that the laws should actually be enforced. The rule of law is fundamental to the continued existence of this country and has been that way for over 200 years.
Of course, California’s politically motivated laws also negatively impact the other 49 states in this country. By encouraging illegal entry and offering protection once here, the opportunity to stop this problem at the locations most advantageous — at the border and local jails — becomes more difficult.
Once in the country, these individuals may wish to move around the country, have children who become United States citizens, and potentially move on to other states doing the same. Perhaps if they wait it out long enough they will have earned the de facto status that is now used to demand that they be allowed to stay.
It is a shame when the union has to sue one of its own states to force compliance with the law. But in a nation of laws, the federal lawsuit against California to invalidate Senate Bill 54 is the appropriate step.
Abed is mayor of Escondido and is running for re-election.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...412-story.html
