SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ The California Senate and more than 20 cities and counties have come out in support of the state's "sanctuary" law, which limits police and sheriff agencies from cooperating with federal immigration agencies.
In two friend-of-the court briefs filed Friday, former U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. sided with California in a federal lawsuit brought forth by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Trump administration over its immigration policies. The briefs were filed on behalf of the state Senate and Santa Clara County, joined by 22 other California cities and counties.
Holder argued that entangling state and local agencies with federal immigration enforcement usurps limited resources, blurs lines of accountability and distorts trust between officers and the community. In their own brief, city and county lawyers said the federal government should not dictate how local or state resources are used.
"California has made a judgment that separating civil immigration enforcement, which is a federal duty, from local law enforcement, general policing, makes our community safer," said Santa Clara County Counsel James R. Williams. "That is something born out by actual evidence."
The briefs pointed to studies that show immigrants without legal status are less likely to report crimes or serve as witnesses. It also cited a 2016 federal task force report that found state and local police should not be involved with immigration enforcement whenever possible.
The court filings come just days after President Donald Trump, in a White House meeting with like-minded California Republicans, characterized some deported immigrants as "animals," recommended an obstruction of justice investigation against Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and suggested "a revolution" was afoot against the sanctuary state law.
The state's supporters denounced Trump's rhetoric, calling it part of an assault on immigrant populations since his early days of his administration. Holder said the state has a right to step in to ensure the health and safety of its residents. The sanctuary law, he said, was crafted to ensure to law enforcement and federal immigration agencies could work together when public safety was at stake.
Officially dubbed the "California Values Act," the law prohibits alerting federal immigration agents of an inmate's release from a county jail _ unless the information is already available to the public, or if the person has been convicted of any of the 800 offenses outlined in a 2013 state law.
Holder, and his firm, Covington & Burling, were temporarily hired last year by the Senate and Assembly to serve as outside counsel to offer advice on the state's legal strategy against the incoming administration. All his work thus far has been pro-bono. In September, he filed another brief on behalf of the California Senate supporting the city of Chicago in a lawsuit against the Justice Department over its plan to withhold federal money from "sanctuary cities."
