The Department of Justice, at the behest of the Trump Administration, has recently filed suit against the state of California regarding its sanctuary state laws. California has enacted laws to protect undocumented immigrants living in the state, barring state and local law enforcement agencies, including school police and security departments, from using money or personnel to investigate, interrogate, detain, detect, or arrest persons for immigration enforcement purposes. The administration sent Attorney General Jeff Sessions to California to announce the lawsuit and continue his critique of sanctuary cities.
Since enacting the sanctuary state law, ICE warned about and has subsequently carried-out more frequent and sweeping arrests. The Administration’s decision to sue California has taken this promise a step further in pitting the administration and California’s immigration policies against each other. The president’s recent visit to California again focused on immigration and building his long-touted border wall, taking the time to denounce the state and its governor. As a result, the battle between the state and the administration wages on, as each side continues to dig in its heels and prepare its arguments for federal court. In this complicated legal area of immigration law, state’s rights, and federal law, neither side has an easy path going forward, but we will continue to follow as this case plays out and effects the ever-changing immigration landscape.