Immigrant Rights Groups Rally For California Protection

OAKLAND, CA — Immigrants' rights advocates rallied at the State Building in Oakland late last week to call on California to not cooperate with the harsh immigration policies that are expected to be pursued by President-elect Donald Trump once he takes office.

They are advocating for a passage of a bill introduced by state Sen. Kevin De Leon, D-Los Angeles, that would ban state and local law enforcement officers from acting as federal immigration officers.

The California Values Act would specifically repeal existing law that requires local agencies to notify immigration officials if they suspect someone they've arrested is an undocumented immigrant.

It would also prohibit law enforcement agencies from cooperating with any attempts to create a registry of Muslims or any other group and from using local law enforcement resources to investigate or arrest people
specifically for immigration enforcement.

If passed, it would be a significant statewide break with federal immigration policies. Previously, individual cities and counties in the Bay Area have taken a hard stand against cooperating with federal immigration
officials, a practice that Trump has criticized.

Trump has indicated his immigration policy will be extreme. Among other things, Trump has called for a wall to be built along the Mexican border, the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants, a ban on
Muslims entering the country and a federal registry of Muslims living in the U.S.

In the lobby of the Elihu M. Harris State Building in Oakland today, immigration rights activists gathered with signs saying, "CA united for immigrant justice!" and "Gov. Brown stop deportation machine!"

Saba Maher, civil rights coordinator for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said, "The call for a Muslim registry cannot be answered by Californians with a yes."

"We cannot as Californians allow any sort of expansion of such programs," Maher said.

The introduction of Leon's bill has drawn support from San Francisco officials. In a statement today, Angela Chan, policy director of Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus said, "Trump's threat to deport 3
million people is a witch hunt targeting some of the most vulnerable Californians."

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon said that the bill would actually help by fostering trust with law enforcement.

"When victims of crime don't come forward for fear of immigration consequences, the impact on public safety reaches far beyond immigrant communities," Gascon said.

According to De Leon, Gascon's assessment is the same as President Barack Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, which found that immigrants fear approaching police officers when they are victims or
witnesses to a crime if local police are actively cooperating with federal immigration officials.

De Leon said, "To the millions of undocumented residents pursuing and contributing to the California Dream, the State of California will be your wall of justice should the incoming Administration adopt an inhumane and
over-reaching mass-deportation policy."

— Bay City News

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