Following the bouncing political stunts.
The Democratic Party-controlled Legislature passed a law making California an immigration sanctuary state that our Democratic Governor Jerry Brown signed on Oct. 5.
As the Los Alamitos City Council voted to defy the law and the Orange County Board of Supervisors and councils for other surrounding cities publicly explored doing the same thing, OC Sheriff Sandra Hutchens announced Monday that her agency would get around sanctuary state regulations by publishing the release dates of county jail inmates, who, if they are undocumented, could then be scooped up by federal immigration officers. Deputies would not assist in federal arrests, Hutchens added.
But California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said this during a news conference Tuesday: “State law is state law. It’s my job to enforce state law and I will do so. We want to make sure that every jurisdiction, including Orange County, understands what state law requires of the people and the subdivisions of the state of California.”
Asked if that meant an arrest or lawsuit against the sheriff, Becerra responded, “I think I just answered that.”
That prompted Eric Early, a Republican seeking Becerra’s seat, to issue this statement today: “Let me be very clear, I stand shoulder to shoulder with Sheriff Hutchens and the people of Orange County in opposition to California’s dangerous sanctuary state law and Xavier Becerra’s disgusting display of partisan extremism. Becerra is protecting illegal immigrant felons over the law-abiding, duly elected Sheriff of Orange County. Make no mistake, we are not talking about the hardworking immigrants that came to our state to find security and prosperity for their families—Becerra is choosing to protect people who came here illegally and then committed crimes, often repeatedly and violently, over the hardworking, law-abiding, taxpaying citizens of our state. The people of California will no longer stand for Sacramento Democrats’ alt-left policy of marketing our state as a safe haven for violent illegal immigrant felons.”
President Donald Trump tweeted the following today: “My Administration stands in solidarity with the brave citizens in Orange County defending their rights against California’s illegal and unconstitutional Sanctuary policies. California sanctuary laws release known dangerous criminals into communities across the State. All citizens have the right to be protected by Federal law and strong borders.”
Just when you think Republicans are dead in the water politically in California, Democrats toss them flotation devices.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.