State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

As Sanctuary State, California Takes Deportation Fight to New Level

Stateline: As more states and counties take immigration policy into their own hands, California is stepping up its fight to protect unauthorized immigrants by not only refusing to detain immigrants slated for deportation, but now also by declining to tell federal immigration officials when they will be released from local jails.

Advocates say it’s the next logical step in defying the Trump administration’s expanding threats to deport more unauthorized immigrants. Such tactics have been tried in smaller jurisdictions — immigrant-friendly counties in Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Texas — but never by a whole state.

California’s new approach could have sweeping implications for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The state has the lion’s share of unauthorized immigrants, and its action might prompt other states to defy the Trump administration’s quest to deport more of them.

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