Orange County Judge Rules California’s ‘Sanctuary State’ Law Unconstitutional
The Superior Court judge said the law violates the rights of charter cities.
The ruling comes in response to a challenge from Huntington Beach officials. The city opposed the controversial law, arguing it infringes on local governments’ authority. The judge agreed, saying cities must be allowed to police themselves.
MORE: Orange County Board votes to join Trump admin lawsuit against CA over sanctuary law.
The law bars some cooperation between local cities and federal officials enforcing immigration laws. Exceptions include cases that involve violent or serious felonies.
Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates called the ruling a victory for the state’s 121 charter cities.
“I’m very pleased with the court’s ruling,” Gates said. “(This) is a significant victory for the rule of law, the CA Constitution, the City’s Charter authority, and other Charter Cities. We will continue to hold Sacramento accountable for unconstitutional State law overreaches. The City of Huntington Beach will not allow Sacramento to violate its Constitutionally protected rights.”
The Huntington Beach Police Department issued a statement saying the agency values having the ability to communicate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement when necessary and that SB54 limited that ability. The HBPD also said it will not act as an immigration enforcement agency.
“This also helps us maintain local control over our own police department and the interests of our community instead of having to rely on the State Legislature making those decisions for Huntington Beach,” the HBPD said.
“It is important for us to make clear that we have not, and will not, be conducting immigration enforcement in our community. There are times when immigration matters become important to ensuring the safety of our community, but our focus will continue to be overall public safety.”
COMMENTARY…
“Sanctuary Cities” sounds like a loving, compassionate term, but in reality it’s something dreamed up by leftist Democrats to pander to Hispanics, since many of these illegal aliens are from Mexico and South America.
The liberal legislature and governor have passed three laws Sanctuary State Laws that not only encourage illegal immigration, but actually make it a crime to work with federal agencies like ICE and Homeland Security to identify and detain illegal alien criminals who would be deported (SB 54). They make it a crime for employers to cooperate with ICE when they conduct investigations of illegal aliens (AB 450), and since 2015 – in what was described as a way to make the roads safer – illegal aliens have been able to get driver’s licenses. Since that time traffic fatalities are up over 16 percent and hit and runs have increased over 24 percent. (AB 60) also makes it easier for illegal aliens to register to vote threatening the very core of our democracy.
President Trump has tried to fight back – but the liberal courts in California have blocked him, and while these cases slowly move to the Supreme Court, the criminals keep harming innocent citizens, drugs continue to flow, and elections become more and more compromised.
A movement has been started in California by victims of illegal alien crime to fight these laws from a different direction. They realize that if the laws were repealed as unconstitutional, the legislature will just pass new laws to accomplish the same thing. So they have crafted an initiative to appear on the 2019 or 2020 ballot that would become a California constitutional amendment.
The “Children, Family and Community Protection Act,” is an initiative to get onto the 2020 ballot that repeals the above three laws and requires all state and local officials to cooperate with ICE and Federal officials. It also adds criminal penalties for politicians and officials who refuse to cooperate or enforce the law.
The initiative has been filed, but now we have to gather over 365,000 valid signatures in order to qualify to get onto the ballot. Over 70% of Californians agree that the Sanctuary State laws should be repealed, and there will be thousands of volunteers collecting signatures, but this needs to be done in the next 180 days, and we need to collect double the target amount to make sure the signatures can be qualified.
The only way to ensure this is done is to add paid signature gathering teams to the project.
We need your support.
Giving even a few dollars today will send a message that you’ve had enough of these outrageous policies that favor illegal alien criminals over American citizens and start the process of ending murderous crimes like the one that took the life of Mollie Tibbetts, Kate Steinle and many others.
Click the button below and make a secure donation of $10, $20, $50, $100, or $250. Your donation will be critical in getting this issue on the ballot.
