LOS ANGELES _ Over the past few months, immigrant advocates have rallied at sheriff's departments, marched to the state Capitol and occupied the governor's office in a push for a California Senate bill that would limit law enforcement from questioning or holding people on immigration violations.
The so-called sanctuary state bill, by Senate leader Kevin de Leon, a Democrat, has drawn national praise and rebuke, touted as part of a legislative package by Democrats to shield thousands of immigrants without legal residency from President Donald Trump's call for expanded immigration enforcement.
But Gov. Jerry Brown has been in talks with elected county sheriffs over possible changes to the bill, SB 54, after expressing reservations about signing the legislation should it come to his desk, telling NBC's "Meet the Press" that some people here illegally who have committed crimes "have no business being in the country."
For those who remember the passage of the bill's predecessor, the California Trust Act, the debate is familiar. Like De Leon's legislation, the Trust Act was introduced by Democrats to blunt the effect of federal policy on immigrant communities. And it also ignited a bitter fight over who the state should protect when the federal government casts a wide deportation net that can entangle hardworking families and criminals.
The Trust Act, which was signed by Brown in October 2013, prohibits state and local law enforcement from holding people longer than 48 hours for federal immigration agents _ unless they've been convicted of certain crimes, most of them serious or violent.
With SB 54, De Leon seeks to further limit which inmates officials can detain for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and to curb state and local agencies from collecting or sharing their personal information and release dates from jail or prison with federal immigration officials.
But sheriffs argue SB 54 would hamper cooperation between law enforcement officials, allowing immigrants with violent or serious convictions to walk free. Immigrant rights advocates counter that the state needs to do more to keep people from being punished twice _ once under criminal laws and again through deportation _ in a time of fear for immigrant communities.
Here is how the Trust Act has shaped this year's debate on SB 54:
