California Senate Passes 'Sanctuary State' Bill

Veronica Neffinger | iBelieve Contributor | Updated: Apr 05, 2017

California Senate Passes 'Sanctuary State' Bill

The California Senate has passed a bill which prohibits local law enforcement from enforcing federal immigration rules, essentially designating California as a “sanctuary state.”

CNN.com reports that Senate Bill 54 passed in a 27-12 vote along party lines. Democrats supported the bill, while Republicans did not. It bans law enforcement from using resources, funds, facilities, property, equipment, and personnel to assist in immigration law enforcement.

The bill comes in direct contradiction to President Trump’s hardline stance toward immigration.

California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León who authored the bill condemned President Trump’s immigration policies and said the bill would allow law enforcement to focus on more important tasks.

"Our precious local law enforcement resources will be squandered if police are pulled from their duties to arrest otherwise law-abiding maids, busboys, labors, mothers and fathers," León said, adding that the bill is "a rejection of President Trump's false and cynical portrayal of undocumented residents as a lawless community."

Republican lawmakers, however, argue that the bill would harm lines of communication between state and local authorities.

"We're prohibiting local and state unfettered communications with federal authorities in getting many dangerous and violent felons out of our communities," said Republican Sen. Jeff Stone.

The bill now heads to the California State Assembly, where Democrats hold a super majority. If it passes in the Assembly, it will go to the desk of California’s Democratic Governor Jerry Brown.

 

Photo: Border patrol agents arrest a man trying to illegally enter the U.S. by floating down the New River, considered the nation?s most polluted waterway, in the early morning hours on June 15, 2006 in Calexico, California. Fears sparked by the arrival of US National Guard troops near Yuma, Arizona, to the east, have been blamed for skyrocketing fees charged by coyotes, guides who help people illegally cross the US-Mexico border. Fees that used to be a few hundred dollars now run in the thousands with no guarantee of success. Poor Central Americans are reportedly charged as much as $7000 per person.

Photo courtesy: David McNew/Getty Images

Publication date: April 5, 2017



California Senate Passes 'Sanctuary State' Bill