Sunday, April 2, 2017

California: The Sanctuary State Bill

The Senate Appropriations Committee heard two bills yesterday that would significantly make our state less safe. Thank you to everyone who called the members of the committee to let them know the CFRW OPPOSES SB 6 (Hueso, D) and SB 54 (De Leon, D). Unfortunately both bills passed down party lines and it is on it's way to the Senate Floor for its Second Reading. There is some good news, though. SB 54 was amended to include a requirement that state prisons and county jails report violent felons to the FBI 60 days before releasing them. This is a step in the right direction! Please continue to let your representatives know that we OPPOSE SB 6 and SB 54! FlashReport editor Jon Fleischman wrote an important piece for Breitbart.com about SB 54, please read and share it HERE. Once again, here is what SB 6 and SB 54 would do:

SB 6 (Hueso, D): Would require the State Department of Social Services to either contract with qualified nonprofit legal services organizations, or contract with a nonprofit agency to administer funding to nonprofit legal services organization subcontractors, to provide legal services to individuals in removal proceedings who are not otherwise entitled to legal representation under an existing local, state, or federal program. Essentially, this would set aside $12 million from the General Fund to pay for legal services for illegal immigrants.

SB 54 (De Leon, D): Current law provides that when there is reason to believe that a person arrested for a violation of specified controlled substance provisions may not be a citizen of the United States, the arresting agency shall notify the appropriate agency of the United States having charge of deportation matters. This bill would repeal those provisions. Current law provides that whenever an individual who is a victim of or witness to a hate crime, or who otherwise can give evidence in a hate crime investigation, is not charged with or convicted of committing any crime under state law, a peace officer may not detain the individual exclusively for any actual or suspected immigration violation or report or turn the individual over to federal immigration authorities. This bill would, among other things, prohibit state and local law enforcement agencies and school police and security departments from using resources to investigate, interrogate, detain, detect, or arrest persons for immigration enforcement purposes.
Allison Olson, CFRW Advocate
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