Justice department files suit against California “sanctuary” laws
By
Patrick Martin
8 March 2018
The US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Tuesday evening against the state of California, seeking to have a legislative package establishing California as a “sanctuary state” declared unconstitutional. The suit was filed in a federal district court in Sacramento, the California state capital.
Despite the “sanctuary” claim made by both supporters and opponents, the laws targeted in the suit do not actually provide sanctuary to undocumented immigrants. They merely require that federal immigration agents meet due process requirements before California police or employers assist them.
US Attorney General Jefferson Sessions defended the lawsuit and condemned the conduct of state and local officials in California in a fascistic speech to the annual legislative meeting of the California Peace Officers Association, held in Sacramento Wednesday, the day after the suit was filed.
The attorney general singled out the mayor of Oakland, Libby Schaaf, for condemnation, because she issued a statement last week warning of impending raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents throughout the San Francisco Bay area. He claimed that because of this warning, 800 of the nearly 1,000 people targeted for seizure by ICE had escaped detention.
“Those are 800 wanted aliens that are now at large in that community—most are wanted criminals that ICE will now have to pursue with more difficulty in more dangerous situations, all because of one mayor’s irresponsible action,” he said, adding that “[Shaff’s] actions support those who flout our laws and boldly validate the illegality.”
Sessions claimed that Schaaf’s warning had put at risk the lives of ICE agents…