Judge rules for Huntington Beach in its challenge to state's'sanctuary' immigration law
An Orange County Superior Court judge determined Thursday that California’s “sanctuary state” protections for undocumented immigrants infringe on Huntington Beach’s local control as a charter city, making Huntington the first city to successfully challenge the controversial law.
One can only hope that other superior court judges would have ruled in favor. Let's hope that this ruling is about more than the legal and political culture of the county.
Senate Bill 54, authored by state Senate leader Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles), in many cases prohibits state and local police agencies from notifying federal officials about the impending release of immigrants in custody who may be deported.
The amendments regarding the cooperation with ICE for serious felonies is a voluntary amendment. County jails and sheriffs do not have to cooperate with ICE at all if they so choose. That part of the law is precisely why open-borders Villaneuva is running on a platform to abolish ICE from the LA County jails if he gets elected.
Please, let us not allow that to happen.
But after an hours-long courtroom debate Thursday, Judge James Crandall sided with Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates’ argument that the law is unconstitutional as it applies to charter cities, which are run by a charter adopted by local voters.
This is nothing short of wonderful. Finally, courts are ruling in the best interests of the citizenry and in accordance with the state and federal constitution.
The ruling makes Huntington Beach and all of California’s 121 charter cities exempt from complying with SB54.
That includes Torrance. YES! That list also includes Victorville, Redondo Beach, and Los Alamitos.
Gates said afterward that he was “ecstatic” about the ruling.
“The operation of a police department and its jail is a city affair,” Crandall said. “For the state to say one size fits all for policing isn’t going to fit everybody.”
It also violations federal law and defies the United States Constitution.
Several other Orange County governments also have taken steps to oppose the state’s sanctuary policies.
Crandall said SB54 infringes on local governments’ authority to practice policies they know are appropriate for themselves. Cities have a “better view and better ability” to oversee their needs in certain areas, he added.
BAM! The whole point of city charters was to concentrate and focus governance at the local level. SB 54 unjustly overrides that authority.
Though the state may have had good intentions, Crandall said, there are “constitutional protections” for cities from the “ever-extending tentacles” of state rule.
Yes.
California Deputy Attorney General Jonathan Eisenberg contended that municipalities can exercise other forms of autonomy and criticized Huntington Beach’s “alleged sweeping effects of this law.”
Yes, they are sweeping effects, though. Local governments have every right to ensure that illegal aliens, foreign national criminals, are arrested and deported. They should not reside with impunity in our country. They need to leave.
Eisenberg also argued there is an “important need” for a “uniform” public safety law. He referred to comments included in his briefing in which a law professor suggested that if police officials lose the trust of immigrant communities, people in those areas would avoid police and stop reporting crime, possibly resulting in an increase in crime.
Who cares? "Immigrant communities" which include illegal aliens are not truly immigrant communities. They are dens and covens of lawlessness which should be exposed and broken down. This nonsense about cooperation between illegal aliens and law enforcement agencies is a false argument.
But Crandall contended that violent crime is already up in the state and said he would rather rely on the opinions of local police than a law professor who may not be familiar with a city like Huntington Beach.
WOW! Finally, a judge slapped down the narrow-minded elitist arrogance of academia. No one should care what these elitist eggheads think, since they do not live in the thick of the consequences of the policies they promote. They don't care about everyday people. They are merely invested in how the world should work, even though their regressive, leftist ideas are a total sham that never will work.
I say we listen to the police officers and the citizens, not illegal aliens. Simple as that.
Crandall commended both sides for submitting strong briefs and said that regardless of his decision, he expected it to be appealed and eventually taken up by the California Supreme Court.
This kind of even-handedness deserves great respect and solidifies the fact that the judge rendered a great ruling.
After the hearing, Eisenberg referred questions to Jennifer Molina, press secretary for the state attorney general’s office. Molina could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday evening.
I wonder if the state is going to appeal this decision. Do they have the money, the resources to contest this ruling? I hope not. Perhaps even politically, they won't do anything.
Last year, dozens of residents of Huntington Beach’s Oak View community, which has a high concentration of Latinos, voiced concerns at a town hall meeting following President Trump’s executive order calling for a more aggressive approach to finding and arresting people who are in the country illegally.
Notice how the Fake News media wants to make this about race all over again. This is quite a racist summation which they are suggesting. Do they contend that all illegal aliens are Latino, or of Hispanic origin? That is racist!
Fear has lingered in Oak View since April, when Gates sued over SB54 following a 6-1 vote of approval from the City Council.
Why are they afraid? Are they harboring illegal aliens? Are they contravening federal law? If they are breaking the law, then it's their own damn fault if they are fearful.
Asked what he would say to those residents, Huntington Beach Police Chief Robert Handy, who was present during the hearing, said in an interview that he would ask them to rely on the trust already built among police officers and the community and ignore rhetoric in politics and the media.
Police chiefs need to stop being political. They need to start being professional. They need to stop saying what is popular, and they need to start doing what is right.
7:35 p.m.: This article was updated to say the ruling applies to all California charter cities.
This addition is nothing but good news for us law-abiding citizens.
This is going to knock the entire law down. First, the judge signals that the law violates the home rule of charter cities and their governing policies for local law enforcement.
Second, this ruling will create massive division throughout the state. General law cities which have opposed SB 54 are going to demand that their right to comply with federal law and the United States Constitution. Two sets of law will have emerged because of this ruling, and then general law cities can file their own lawsuit and demand the same honor, protections, and exemptions for their law enforcement outfits.
The whole law will collapse. This is nothing short of wonderful, nothing short of incredible!
This is the judicial victory which California citizens have waited for for decades. We the voters were betrayed after supporting Prop 187 in 1994. Governor Pete Wilson bootstrapped his failing campaign to that initiative. He won re-election, but Prop 187 succeeded by a much larger margin. When one arrogant judge struck down the law in federal court, Wilson refused to purse the matter all the way to Supreme Court.
Wilson betrayed us. He should have fought all the way. Now we are fighting for our rights and our sovereignty. And we are winning!
No comments:
Post a Comment