Sessions, Becerra each to address law enforcement group in Sacramento

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and one of his fiercest critics, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, will each address a law enforcement conference in Sacramento, with Sessions promising a major announcement about cities, counties, and states that do not cooperate with federal immigration officers.

It was unclear what specifically Sessions would be announcing regarding so-called sanctuary jurisdictions and he is replacing Eastern District U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott as the early morning speaker.

Carol Leveroni, executive director of the California Peace Officers’ Association, said she invited Sessions to speak at the 26th annual Law Enforcement Legislative Day event when she heard he would be in Sacramento.

“He’s the top cop in the United States and we’re an organization of law enforcement, so we felt it was an honor to have him speak at our event,” she said, adding that it was not her intention to create controversy around sanctuary jurisdictions.

“Had it been up to us on what he would discuss, there might have been other options,” Leveroni said. “There might have been issues about marijuana or gun issues. It never got to that because we were told specifically that he was coming to make a statement.”

She added that Becerra would speak at 11:45 a.m. and that while she did not know what he would speak about, she expected a discussion of relevant law enforcement issues.

“I can only assume that he’s going to change whatever he might have been saying to address some of what the [U.S.] attorney general is saying,” she said of Becerra’s expected remarks.

Leveroni said it made sense to invite Sessions as well as Becerra, and that although no sitting U.S. attorney general had previously been invited to the event, Sessions had been “reactively invited” because he was in town.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice said Sessions was initially coming to Sacramento to meet with Scott and that it was standard for the attorney general to meet with U.S. attorneys when traveling to U.S. cities.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice lost a bid to dismiss a case brought by San Francisco and California challenging its threats and policies around conditioning certain federal grant funding on what the government argues is cooperating with federal immigration laws.

In an emailed statement, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said the U.S. administration was continuing to unfairly vilify people in the country illegally.

“This administration spreads the falsehood that sanctuary cities like San Francisco harbor criminals and violate federal law. That is simply untrue on both counts,” Herrera said. “San Francisco is in full compliance with federal immigration law. The Trump administration is trying to twist the law to mean something it doesn’t say. So far the courts have stopped them at nearly every turn.”

The DOJ in January sent letters to 23 self-described sanctuary jurisdictions demanding that they provide proof they are in compliance with federal law and threatened a subpoena for jurisdictions that failed to respond in a timely and complete manner.

A state law, SB 54, also went into effect this year that prohibits the use of state resources to assist in federal immigration enforcement, making California a de facto “sanctuary state.”