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New CA bill seeks to stop local police from helping ICE racially profile or detain observers
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents transfer an immigrant after an early morning raid in Duarte.
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Damian Dovarganes
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AP Photo
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State lawmakers propose bill giving citizens an avenue to sue police assisting ICE
Democratic State Sen. Sasha Renee Perez's bill SB 1105 would limit police's ability to assist immigration agents and interfere with protesters' First Amendment rights.
Topline:
Following reports of local police assisting federal immigration agents with raids and detentions of citizen observers across Southern California, state lawmakers have introduced a bill seeking to outlaw such collaboration.
The details: State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena) announced Monday that she has introduced SB 1105, dubbed the Protect California Rights Act. The bill would ban local law enforcement from helping federal agents with operations based on racial profiling, efforts to stop First Amendment speech or actions involving unauthorized military weapons.
Why proponents say it’s needed: At a news conference, Pérez said: “Californians deserve to feel safe. They deserve to trust that the officers sworn to protect them will not be used to intimidate them. And they deserve a state government that stands firmly on the side of civil rights and constitutional protections.”
How enforcement would work: The bill is co-sponsored by ACLU California Action. Executive Director David Trujillo said if the bill passes, Californians who’ve been subject to illegal activity by local law enforcement could take their case to court. “The courts will be able to then step in and order local law enforcement to comply with our laws here in California,” Trujillo said.
Community voices: The news conference featured speakers who have been detained by local police in incidents related to federal immigration actions. Jose Madera, director of the Pasadena Community Job Center, said he was arrested last month by Pasadena police while tracking the movements of an alleged ICE agent. “The perception of the community,” Madera said, “is that local police were protecting ICE agents and not protecting us, the residents, legal observers.”
White House position: The Trump Administration and top officials at the Department of Homeland Security have consistently pushed back on efforts to curtail their aggressive enforcement of immigration policies. White House border czar Tom Homan on Sunday, for example, rejected Democrats calls for ICE officers to stop wearing masks, saying that while he didn't "like the masks either" officers said they were needed to protect from doxxing.
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