The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to quash California’s migrant sanctuary law, which broadly prohibits state and local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
The dispute over the California Values Act, or SB 54, is ideologically scrambled, featuring a conservative administration arguing for strong federal power against California liberals making a states-rights defense.
“The federal government has plenary and exclusive power over immigration, naturalization and deportation,” the government’s petition to the high court reads. “The supremacy of the national power in this area is made clear by the Constitution, was pointed out by the authors of The Federalist in 1787, and has been given continuous recognition by this Court.”
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law in April.
Three provisions of SB 54 are at stake in the case. The law bars state officials from: sharing information about a person’s release from custody with immigration agents; sharing personal information like physical descriptions or employment history; and transferring individuals to immigration authorities without a court warrant. The law does not apply to certain violent criminals.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued about 58,000 immigration detainers in California in fiscal year 2019. Without California’s cooperation, federal immigration agents must stake out state jails and await the release of non-citizens, then make public arrests. Some migrants evade federal custody altogether.
“The practical consequences of California’s obstruction are not theoretical; as a result of SB 54, criminal aliens have evaded the detention and removal that Congress prescribed, and have instead returned to the civilian population, where they are disproportionately likely to commit additional crimes,” the government’s petition reads.
The Trump administration is relying on a liberal Supreme Court decision to make its case, in keeping with the ideological role-reversals that permeate the dispute. In Arizona v. U.S., a left-leaning five-justice majority invalidated much of an Arizona law that involved state officials with immigration enforcement. Arizona said its law merely supplemented federal immigration rules. The high court struck much of it down anyway, saying federal immigration rules take precedence over — or “preempt” — state ones.
Read the rest of the story HERE and follow link below to a related story/opinion:
NATIONAL REVIEW: Trump Administration Challenges California Sanctuary Law in Supreme Court
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