Criminal
Jun. 21, 2017
Holder writes to Sessions defending California law
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. wrote a letter to current Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday in support of California legislation that would restrict the use of state and local resources for federal immigration enforcement purposes.
Daily Journal Staff Writer
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. wrote a letter to current U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday in support of California legislation that would restrict the use of state and local resources for federal immigration enforcement purposes.
Writing in his capacity as a partner at Covington & Burling LLP and representing the California Senate, Holder stated that SB 54, which passed the Senate in April, is constitutional. "As a sovereign state, California has the constitutional authority and responsibility to allocate its limited state resources to those areas of greatest significance to the safety and well-being of its residents," Holder wrote.
SB 54 would, among other provisions, prohibit state and local law enforcement agencies, including school police and security departments, from using resources to investigate, interrogate, detain, detect, or arrest persons for immigration enforcement purposes.
Holder wrote that his letter was in regard to a Trump administration executive order from January concerning so-called sanctuary jurisdictions.
"Neither Congress nor the president may require California to redirect its resources to enforcing federal immigration law," Holder said during a news conference Monday to talk about the letter. He appeared with the bill's principal author, California Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles and law enforcement officers.
President Donald J. Trump's executive order directs the U.S. attorney general and the secretary of homeland security to ensure that jurisdictions that "willfully refuse to comply" with 8 U.S.C. 1373 are ineligible to receive federal grants except for some law enforcement purposes.
That section of the U.S. code makes it illegal to inhibit information sharing between a state or local government and the federal government regarding a person's immigration or citizenship status.
SB 54 does not prohibit such sharing of information, according to de León. "State prisons will be required to give ICE 60 days' notice before the release of serious or violent offenders. ICE will have access to any targeted individual in custody with a judicial warrant," de León said at the news conference. ICE is the acronym for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
John Eastman, a professor of law at Chapman University in Orange, disagreed. Eastman said SB 54 would violate federal law since it prohibits California governmental entities from inquiring into an individual's immigration status. "It's a direct conflict with the federal law," Eastman said.
Eastman took umbrage with Holder's claim in his letter to Sessions that, "Congress may not commandeer the California Legislature or California law enforcement to implement the federal government's immigration program," by attempting to ensure jurisdictions that do not comply with 8 U.S.C. 1373 would not be eligible for certain federal grant money.
"That's not commandeering. If you don't want to participate in the condition you don't have to take the money. But they all take the money." Eastman said.
While de León said Monday the bill would not shield criminals from prosecution, state Sen. Joel Anderson, D-San Diego , disagreed.
"SB 54 continues to shield felons like human traffickers and child or senior abusers serving in our state prisons from deportation. While state law enforcement should not do federal work, they should not be working to help undocumented felons avoid deportation," wrote a spokesperson for Anderson.
The text of SB 54 says it "does not prohibit or restrict any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, federal immigration authorities, information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of an individual pursuant to Sections 1373 and 1644 of Title 8 of the United States Code."
A Northern District federal judge issued a nationwide injunction against the Trump administration's executive order regarding sanctuary jurisdictions in April.
chase_difeliciantonio@dailyjournal.com
Chase Di Feliciantonio
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