This post originally appeared in the Oct. 26 Sacramento Report. Get the Sacramento Report delivered to your inbox.
In July, a federal judge upheld most of the three laws intended to buffer immigrants in California from increased federal immigration enforcement. Those laws had been challenged by the Trump administration, and the judge dismissed part of the suit.
But the back-and-forth between California and the federal government isn’t over. Nor is the implementation of the laws within California.
The federal government has appealed the dismissal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Meanwhile, a judge in Orange County ruled against the state in a legal challenge over the so-called “sanctuary laws,” in a case brought by Huntington Beach, which said the state interfered with the city’s charter, the Orange County Register reported.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has said he will continue to enforce the law as the various legal challenges work their way through courts.
Last month, he issued guidance under the California Values Act, restricting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ access to courthouses after reports of immigrants being arrested in courthouses in Fresno, Sacramento and other places emerged, the Fresno Bee reported.
Local police and sheriff’s departments must report information to the state by January regarding immigration-related arrests that stem from joint task forces between local and federal law enforcement, and the attorney general’s office has said it will publish a report on those arrests in March each year beginning in 2019.
In two weeks, San Diego County will hold a community forum to discuss the transfers of unauthorized immigrants between local law enforcement and ICE. The County Board of Supervisors and several cities in the county, like Escondido, Carlsbad and Vista, voted to support the federal government in the lawsuit against the California Values Act.