More local governments in California are resisting the state’s efforts to fight the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Since the Jeff Sessions-led Department of Justice sued California last month over its so-called “sanctuary state” law limiting police collaboration with immigration agents, at least a dozen local governments have voted to either join or support the lawsuit or for resolutions opposing the state’s position.
“When the attorney general of the United States decides to take a firm position against it, I think that gave a signal to a lot of us that, ‘Hey, California is on the wrong side of this thing,’” said Fred Whitaker, chairman of the Republican Party in Orange County.
Trump Can’t Tackle Illegal Immigration in NAFTA Deal, Thanks to Border Security Hard-Liner
Mr. Trump has repeatedly tied the issues together, saying he will scrap the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) unless Mexico does more to stop the flow of people headed north across its territory, but Rep. Steve King, a crusader against illegal immigration, has emerged as the unlikely culprit blocking President Trump from a crackdown on Mexico’s border jumpers in the renegotiation of NAFTA.
A 2015 law Mr. King helped author, intended to prevent President Obama from boosting immigration as part of trade pacts, is preventing Mr. Trump from using trade deals to reduce the immigration rate. As the talks enter the final stages, Mr. Trump has increasingly mixed the immigration and trade issue, despite restrictions on executive authority to make trade deals.
“There are other ways to do immigration, not through trade,” Mr. King told The Washington Times. “The president can throw anything into the negotiation that he chooses, but when they write a treaty, they can’t be writing ‘immigrate’ into that treaty because my language prohibits it.”
Watchdog to Investigate DHS Family Separations in Immigration Custody
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) watchdog will investigate whether the Trump administration is improperly separating families in immigration custody, according to a letter the department’s inspector general sent to the office of Sen. Dick Durbin. The inspector general will look into whether the agency is separating the children of asylum seekers from their parents, the letter says.
The review comes after Durbin led a coalition of Democrats in requesting the inspector general look into the matter after reports that DHS was separating children from their parents in immigration custody. While there have been specific reported incidents, it has been unclear if it is a widespread practice.
The letter from acting Homeland Security Inspector General John V. Kelly, which was provided to CNN, said his office has determined it will “conduct a review of this matter” and requested a follow-up meeting to discuss it further.
GOP Blocks Georgia Immigration Enforcement Bill
The Republican Speaker of the Georgia House blocked a bill that would help deport criminal illegal aliens, but he pushed through a last-minute bill touted by his lobbyist son, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Ralston and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, the president of the state Senate, agreed to continue working past midnight to allow the House to approve the bill after it had passed the Senate a few minutes earlier, said Kaleb McMichen, a spokesman for Ralston, a Blue Ridge Republican.
GOP Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle originally backed the immigration enforcement legislation but stayed quiet when the bill was narrowed to exclude migrants who did not commit “serious crimes.” But after the bill was blocked, Cagle issued a statement saying:
“Law enforcement agencies at every level of government should work together to make sure that criminal illegal aliens who commit serious crimes are arrested, convicted, deported, and never allowed back inside our nation’s borders.”
Sunday Immigration Presentation Becomes Meeting of Residents Concerned About ICE Arrests
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reports four more undocumented nationals were arrested Sunday in Western North Carolina. At St. Eugene’s Catholic Church Sunday night, there was a packed presentation that was already planned before the ICE arrests, and which became, largely, a meeting of residents concerned about them. Many wanted to know what they could do to help, and what local leaders could do to embrace Latino families who were part of the weekend round-up.
“These are people,” said Ashley Feasley, Director of Migration Policy and Public Affairs for the United States Catholic Conferences of Bishops. “And it’s a family issue as well we’re not just talking about individuals we’re talking about families.”
Sheriff Van Duncan said his department has no role in the arrests, and neither is the Buncombe County Jail housing any of those ICE arrested. He said he wants to continue to clarify that to the community.
Immigration Policy Shift Affects More Than DACA
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced an end to the Deferred Enforcement Departure for Liberia March 27, giving beneficiaries of the program a 12-month grace period before the program officially ends, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The decision could affect 3,600 Liberians, who were granted Temporary Protected Status during the Liberian civil war more than 20 years ago.
The Trump administration is attempting to fulfill its more restrictive immigration policy promises made during the campaign, said Alexandra Filindra, a professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago and expert in immigration policy. While some campaign promises, such as the U.S.-Mexican border wall, require funding from Congress, cancelling programs are within the White House’s authority, she added.
“[Trump] is changing these programs that are meant to protect populations that escaped civil wars or natural disasters,” she said. “Their return [to their home countries] would be a huge problem. Especially for Liberia because these people have lived in the United States for decades.”
Protesters Gather in Front of Immigration Office in Hendersonville
Protesters gathered Monday night in front an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in downtown Hendersonville in response to news of more arrests in North Carolina. Over the weekend, 16 people were arrested in Western North Carolina. After the arrests, word spread of an ICE processing office off 6th Avenue and Justice Street near downtown Hendersonville.
At 5 p.m. protesters began picketing outside the office. By 6 p.m., a Homeland Security SUV had parked on the property. The officer said he was called from Asheville following reports of the small protest outside what is federal property.
An ICE spokesman said anyone arrested in this area would be fingerprinted at processing offices, but wouldn’t say where the offices were. He did say people who remain in custody after being arrested in North Carolina are transported to immigration detention facilities in Georgia.
