The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

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Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:42 PM

California's Orange County Vote Tuesday To Join Lawsuit From Trump Administration Fighting California Sanctuary City, State Law

Officials in California's Orange County voted Tuesday to join a lawsuit from the Trump administration fighting the state's "sanctuary city" laws, hours after the county sheriff's department anounced its own methods of pushing back against the legislation aimed at protecting illegal immigrants.

Meanwhile, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra would not rule out taking action of his own against officials who fight the laws, including the sheriff. 

"State law is state law. It’s my job to enforce state law and I will do so. We want to make sure that every jurisdiction, including Orange County, understands what state law requires of the people and the subdivisions of the state of California," Becerra said at a news conference. When asked if that meant an arrest or lawsuit against the sheriff, Becerra responded, "I think I just answered that."

The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted 3-0 to join the U.S. Justice Department's lawsuit, which argued three recent California laws deliberately interfered with federal immigration policies.

One of the laws bars police in many cases from turning over suspects to federal immigration agents for deportation.

"This legislation prevents law enforcement from removing criminals from our community and is a threat to public safety," Supervisor Shawn Nelson said before the vote.

The county moved earlier this week to improve communication with federal immigration agents by publishing the release dates of inmates online. The sheriff's department used to screen inmates in the county's jails to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents identify those subject to deportation but had to stop after the state law passed.

Orange County Undersheriff Don Barnes told Fox News in an interview that Becerra’s comments “were threatening,” but the sheriff's office was not doing anything that the law did not allow.

"My hope would be that he would read the language of the law that was passed," he said on "Hannity." "It very clearly says in there what we can and cannot do