(Headline USA) San Diego County voted this week to make itself a “super” sanctuary district and block all county cooperation with federal immigration authorities, Newsweek reported.
The resolution, approved in a 3-1 vote by San Diego County’s board of supervisors, goes even farther than California’s existing sanctuary law, which limits state and local law enforcement’s cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The new policy will prevent the county from providing any assistance to ICE, “including by giving ICE agents access to individuals or allowing them to use county facilities for investigative interviews or other purposes, expending county time or resources responding to ICE inquiries or communicating with ICE regarding individuals’ incarceration status or release dates, or otherwise participating in any civil immigration enforcement activities.”
The resolution admits its primary purpose is to prevent the incoming Trump administration from being able to carry out mass deportations in the area.
“When federal immigration authorities, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and U.S. Border Patrol, coerce local law enforcement to carry out deportations, family members are separated and community trust in law enforcement and local government is destroyed,” the county said.
“Witnesses and victims who are undocumented or who have loved ones who are undocumented are afraid to come to the County for help, which includes calling local law enforcement,” it continued. “This puts the public safety of all San Diegans at risk.”
San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, a Republican and the sole nay vote on the resolution, slammed his colleagues for sacrificing the public safety of San Diego residents.
“This reckless measure not only goes far beyond California’s already extreme sanctuary state laws but actively endangers our communities by shielding illegal immigrant criminals from deportation,” he said in a statement.
“Consider this: under this policy, law enforcement is prohibited from notifying ICE about individuals, in custody, who have committed violent and heinous crimes, including: rape and stalking, assault and battery, burglary, child abuse and more,” he added.
During the previous Trump administration, California jurisdictions including Los Angeles passed similar resolutions and then fought viciously in court as the federal government threatened to withdraw funding.
Border czar Tom Homan has said he is more than willing to flex the full force of the federal governenment in his effortst to uphold the law of the land, since illegal immigration is a problem that extends far beyond the borders of San Diego.
