Attorney General Bonta: The President Cannot Bully California into Carrying Out His Mass Deportation Agenda for Him
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OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued the followed statement on a memorandum from a Trump political appointee at the U.S. Department of Justice addressing state and local involvement in federal immigration enforcement:
“This is a scare tactic, plain and simple. The President is attempting to intimidate and bully state and local law enforcement into carrying out his mass deportation agenda for him.
My team is reviewing the U.S. Department of Justice’s memo, and we’ll be prepared to take legal action if the Trump Administration’s vague threats turn to illegal action.
California law is clear — SB 54 prohibits state and local law enforcement from using taxpayer funds to enforce federal immigration law, subject to several narrow exceptions. SB 54 does not prevent state and local law enforcement from investigating and prosecuting crimes. Nor does it prevent federal agencies from conducting immigration enforcement themselves; what it says is that they cannot make us do their jobs for them.
The Trump Administration already tried to challenge SB 54, and lost. In 2019, the Ninth Circuit held that SB 54 did not conflict with federal law or violate the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.”
In the 2019 decision, the Ninth Circuit reiterated that “California has the right, pursuant to the anticommandeering rule [derived from the Tenth Amendment], to refrain from assisting with federal efforts.” United States v. California, 921 F.3d 865, 873 (9th Cir. 2019). When the prior Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to review that decision, the Court denied the request, leaving the Ninth Circuit’s decision and SB 54 in place.
A copy of the decision from the Ninth Circuit upholding SB 54 is available here.