San Diego County Board of Supervisors made national news this week.
The supervisors voted Tuesday to join the Trump administration in challenging California’s so-called sanctuary policies.
In a tweet, Trump thanked the supervisors for their support.
Much of the discussion around the vote, and the policies being challenged, has been completely untethered from reality.
In this week’s podcast, hosts Sara Libby, Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts break down what the county’s decision really means, and clear up some of the confusion around it.
For one, the significance of the vote was wildly overblown. The supervisors insist it was more than a symbolic move, but the vote came too late for them to join the actual lawsuit. Board chair Kristin Gaspar said they expect the Trump administration to prevail in the lawsuit, and they expect to jump in when California appeals.
Media reports also skimmed over what California laws the Trump administration’s lawsuit is actually going after. The biggie, and the one most everyone focused on, is SB 54, which limits how local law enforcement and federal immigration official can interact. But the suit also challenges two other laws, including one that prohibits private employers from granting Immigration and Customs Enforcement workers access to worksites or documents without a judicial warrant, and AB 103, which created a state inspection system for immigration detention facilities.
People are also claiming California’s so-called sanctuary policies are far more powerful and impactful than they actually are. Gaspar, for instance, said SB 54 means local law enforcement can’t participate in joint task forces with federal officials. But that’s just not true. For the most part, the perceived separation between local police and federal agencies is a myth, and local law enforcement does often cooperate with agencies that enforce immigration law.
One of the biggest impacts of SB 54 was its elimination of the permanent space ICE agents had in local jails. But even that change turns out to be not so impactful, because the sheriff’s office confirmed to us that ICE agents are still in and out of local jails all the time.
“So even the most significant change that we saw from this law is not that big of a deal and the sheriff’s not worried about it,” Lewis said.
Also on the podcast, Lewis discusses a stunning moment in a forum he moderated for the 49th District congressional candidates, and the hosts explain the big philosophical divide the district attorney candidates have when it comes to sex work.
Hero of the Week
Des Linden, the Chula Vista native who won the Boston Marathon, is our hero this week. She’s the first American woman to win the Boston Marathon since 1985.
Goat of the Week
National City Mayor Ron Morrison is the goat. Morrison has been National City’s mayor since 2006. Under the current law, he’s termed out and can’t run for re-election in November, but he’s now supporting a ballot measure to repeal and replace his own term limits, he told the Union-Tribune. But back in 2004, Morrison told the U-T he supported a 2004 initiative that limited the mayor to three four-year terms, saying term limits for the mayor are appropriate because the person holding the position should have a finite amount of time to get things done, otherwise the person is just “perpetuating the job.”