DOJ fights state of California over “sanctuary” laws
The announcement today by Attorney General Jeff Sessions that the Justice Department will sue the state of California due to its “sanctuary” laws has already come under fire from top Californian leaders.
In a tweet, California Governor Jerry Brown called the lawsuit a political stunt that won’t work.
Democratic Senator Kamala Harris agreed with Brown, saying California won’t be bullied by Trump nor sessions.
Meanwhile in Burlingame, CA, Fil-Am Republican Cristina Osmenya says she’s frustrated with both sides.
“We’re paying both the federal government and the state government and the local government and some of us are paying property taxes and we would expect them all to work together. And yet they’re spending more money suing each other. It just seems to me as a mighty example of government dysfunction.”
Osmenya says that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE agents, are only doing their job.
“One of 11 people we know are not being arrested or reported. ICE only has a certain amount of bandwidth and they’re going after the real criminals you really don’t want to be your neighbors. It’s not their intention to break up families.”
In San Francisco, Tina Shauf-Bajar of the Filipino Community Center, who has fought for the protection of undocumented immigrants disagrees.
“This is not true. These are people who are in our communities. These are our neighbors. These are people who we serve. It really isn’t fair when people are trying to find a way for livelihood,” Shauf-Bajar said.
Shauf-Bajar says that this lawsuit is another example of how the Trump administration is trying to create more division within the country.
“Trump really is trying to scapegoat immigrants, working class families, women, and muslims, during a time when the government is not delivering services to the people.”
As far as solutions go, Osmenya says she is open to comprehensive immigration reform but she believes that this issue is being drowned out by more extreme conservatives.
“I think what you’re having in washington dc is that the people who are very hard on immigration are a certain minority. And maybe this is not a needle moving issue for most Republicans so you’re having hardliners being able to voice their opinion and to be very loud about it.”
Shauf-Bajar agrees; however the problem also lies from where these people are coming from.
“This is part of a larger problem. This isn’t just about reform. This is about understanding why people leave their country in the first place.”
Despite the sanctuary status — California saw ICE agents detain over 350 undocumented immigrants in the month of February.
The DOJ should file Obstruction of Justice charge on Oakland Mayor Libby Shaaf, for her action in warning illegal alien of ICE raid. This is 25 years jail time. FEDERAL LAW is the law of the land, NOT State law…Trump new agenda, is to clean California, being a Sanctuary City from Criminal illegal Alien. During Trump watch, we might see politicians going to jail for harboring illegal alien criminals.