California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed landmark legislation that advocates have called “the most strident anti-deportation bill the country has ever seen” and a rebuke of Donald Trump’s racist, anti-immigrant agenda into law. The California Values Act, written and championed by state Senator Kevin de León and immigrant rights advocates, will protect the state’s undocumented population—the largest in the nation—by “[advancing] protections for immigrants in communities across the state, ending a number of shameful local deportation practices altogether and setting limits on other abuses”:
The law, which was dubbed the California Values Act in the state Senate, explicitly prohibits local officials, including school employees and security workers, from using their resources to help federal immigration officials round up undocumented people. It also establishes schools, public libraries, health facilities, and courthouses as safe zones where people cannot be arrested because they are undocumented—protections that have been almost completely eliminated under Donald Trump.
With some exceptions, the law also bars state agencies from transferring undocumented people to ICE unless a judge issues a warrant or the person has certain prior convictions. Agencies also won’t be allowed to give ICE a person’s release date from jail, according the Los Angeles Times. Those provisions are almost certain to kick off a legal firestorm with the Justice Department.
“These are uncertain times for undocumented Californians and their families,” Gov. Brown said, “and this bill strikes a balance that will protect public safety, while bringing a measure of comfort to those families who are now living in fear every day.”
“California’s local law enforcement cannot be commandeered and used by the Trump Administration to tear families apart, undermine our safety, and wreak havoc on our economy,” said de León. “California is building a wall of justice against President Trump’s xenophobic, racist and ignorant immigration policies.”
”As we celebrate today's signature,” said a statement from a coalition of groups including ACLU of California, American Immigration Lawyers Association-San Diego, CREDO Action, Los Angeles LGBT Center, National Day Laborer Organizing Network and dozens of others, “we honor the immigrant community members who bravely stood up and spoke out against painful deportations—and defended the principle that all people should be treated fairly, no matter what they look like or where they were born.
“The Trump administration, in its zeal to deport millions, is turning police and sheriffs into deportation agents. This has broken up families, opened the door to civil rights violations, burdened local resources, and further undermined confidence in law enforcement. The California Values Act will challenge this xenophobic agenda.”