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California Becomes a Sanctuary State

Illustration by Fintan O’Sullivan California is set to become a “sanctuary state” through Senate Bill 54, which was signed by California Governor Jerry Brown on October 5.

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Illustration by Fintan O’Sullivan

California is set to become a “sanctuary state” through Senate Bill 54 (SB 54), which was signed by California Governor Jerry Brown on October 5.

The bill, nicknamed the California Values Act, aims to protect undocumented immigrants from being reported to federal immigration agencies. It also creates “safe zones” on public school, hospital, and courthouse properties. These “safe zones” prevent immigration authorities like U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from entering the premises of any of these locations.

“What SB 54 does is make sure our state and local government agencies don’t cooperate with ICE [so that they] aren’t supplying ICE with information and access to our immigrant communities,” said California State Senator Nancy Skinner.

Even though Berkeley has already been a sanctuary city for decades, this bill strengthens the protocols concerning the protection of undocumented citizens. 

“SB 54 prevents [the DMV, social services, or education services] from voluntarily cooperating with ICE, so that at least our immigrant community can feel some assurance that we are not aiding or abetting ICE,” said Senator Skinner.

As a result of the bill’s passing, immigrants will face a lower chance of deportation when registering for a driver’s licence or registering for school.

While ICE raids are still present as a possibility, it will be more difficult for ICE to obtain information from the DMV, social services, or education services, which in turn protects students and their families from being targeted and deported.

Since SB 54’s introduction, it has been amended seven times. Over the course of the amendments, the bill has been passed through the California State Assembly and the State Senate twice. The amendments were made in response to the lack of acceptance from both the California State Sheriffs Association (CSSA) and the California Police Chiefs Association (CPCA).

“The sanctuary state status is opposed by Californians across the political spectrum because it makes us feel unsafe,” said Assembly member Catharine Baker. “Immigrants make our country tremendously better, but this particular bill ties our hands together in law enforcement … We need to focus on those who are breaking the law and victimizing others.”

In response to worries similar to those voiced by Baker, the bill was amended so that authorities could still report undocumented immigrants if they committed a crime on a list that was created for a previous law, the California Trust Act (AB 54).

After this change, the CPCA changed their position on the bill to neutral, The CSSA still stands in opposition of it.

In addition to worries regarding crime rates, many people, including Berkeley High School (BHS) student Robert Jacobsen, think the bill violates  the U.S. Code of Law. Citing Title 8 section 1373, Jacobsen said that state or local officials cannot “instruct law enforcement to not share information with immigration and naturalization services.”

President Donald Trump cited the same law in his executive order defunding sanctuary cities. But in San Francisco’s lawsuit of this executive order, the city stated that their bill does not stop police from communicating directly with immigration authorities, it simply doesn’t allocate city resources to doing so.

Along with SB 54, similar bills were passed which address other groups, like landlords, workplaces, or private colleges, said Skinner. These bills assure that both government agencies and outside groups cannot target people for their documentation status.

SB 54 also affects immigrants supported by Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).Many DACA recipients are pursuing an education, and if their permit runs out, some of the bills backing up SB 54 would protect them from being removed from the colleges, or universities, they attend, or being reported to ICE.

On October 5, Governor Brown signed the bill into law. Throughout the legislative process he helped with compromises that led to some of the bill’s amendments, specifically allowing authorities to report immigrants if they committed a crime on the AB 54 list.