Immigrant Rights Activists Work to Shore Up California’s Sanctuary Law

San Diego-based attorney Ian Seruelo received three separate reports in March alone about local county Sheriff Kelly Martinez violating California’s immigration policy. The California Values Act, also known as Senate Bill 54 (SB 54), ensures that local law enforcement will not cooperate with immigration authorities to deport individuals. For Seruelo, the violations were an example of how the Trump administration continues to target California’s “sanctuary state” law.

“There is already that atmosphere of fear in our community, very, very high. Never in my 10 years of practice have I experienced this level [of fear],” said Seruelo, who is also chair of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium, a coalition of more than 50 organizations.

“My phone doesn’t stop,” Seruelo said. “Even green card holders, even U.S. citizens who naturalized, they’re asking, ‘What do we do?’”

The California Values Act, signed by former Gov. Jerry Brown, went into effect on Jan. 1, 2018, to protect immigrant families. Since then, the policy has been challenged on numerous occasions by President Donald Trump, with the administration threatening to pull federal funding from the state.

Now, even some Democratic leaders are distancing themselves on immigration protection issues. Gov. Gavin Newsom said he planned to veto an expansion of the California Values Act under Democratic-led bill AB 15, in line with his record of denying previous attempts to expand the sanctuary policy. The bill would prohibit prison officials from cooperating with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) regarding information about incarcerated people or their release dates.

Other California Democrats have remained quieter on immigration protection under the new Trump administration. For immigrant rights advocates, this raises the alarm about how the politicians who once championed such policies are taking a backseat. With few options, advocates are addressing politicians’ shortcomings in their communities.

“I think it’s hard to paint everyone in a broad stroke,” said Erin Tsurumoto Grassi, associate director of the community organization Alliance San Diego.

“I think that compared to  what we saw the first time when Trump went into office, there was a real energy and leadership to move and protect folks quickly. I don’t think we’re seeing that same commitment or level of protection as we did,” Tsurumoto Grassi said.

Tensions regarding the sanctuary policy have come to a head in the state. Oroville, a city about 70 miles from Sacramento, recently passed a resolution declaring itself a “non-sanctuary city.” Officials in San Diego have tried to repeal a county policy that limits cooperation between county and federal immigration enforcement.

Republican lawmakers such as California Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones have also taken strides to weaken SB 54, introducing a new bill, “the Safety Before Criminal Sanctuary Act,” or SB 554, allowing law enforcement to cooperate with immigration authorities. The lawmaker attributes this lack of cooperation to crimes in the community.

However, studies from Tom Wong, director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Center and an associate professor at the University of California San Diego, demonstrate that immigrant-friendly policies resulted in lower crime rates.

Among Wong’s main finding was that there are, on average, 35.5 fewer crimes committed per 10,000 people in sanctuary counties than in non-sanctuary counties. Economies are also stronger, Wong found, with higher median household incomes and higher labor force participation.

Ariel Ruiz Soto, senior policy analyst at Migration Policy Institute, said that the federal administration is trying to incentivize more local and state authorities across the country to collaborate with ICE.

“It hasn’t been as clear-cut, and this is not the first time, of course, that this has become a debate within the states,” Ruiz Soto said. “This has happened before in the first Trump administration and even under Obama. There were similar conversations where counties and sheriffs wanted to work more with federal immigration authorities.”

Some of these actions, though, like the San Diego County sheriff defying the law, are illegal under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, according to Angela Chan, an assistant chief attorney at the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office. “Violations of SB 54, California’s sanctuary law, could subject sheriffs like the San Diego sheriff to liability for violating Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure if people are held for ICE without a warrant signed by a judge,” said Chan.

In San Diego, where more than 1,900 Border Patrol agents patrol the southern border with Mexico, the immigrant community is constantly on edge. Another study from Wong demonstrates that trust in police officers and sheriffs dwindles when the community knows they are working with immigration officers.

“Any services that will provide their names and addresses, [immigrants] would usually refuse if they think the local government units are actually transferring that information to ICE,” Seruelo said.

Tsurumoto Grassi said it also creates a risk for public safety: Witnesses and victims of crimes won’t call, or people won’t go to the doctor to get vaccines. “Trust in our local governments is at risk when our sheriff is colluding with [Department of Homeland Security] agencies,” she said.

Though about 50% of the population is white, San Diego has a prosperous immigrant community. One in four individuals are immigrants, and almost half of all school children in California have at least one immigrant parent. The southern California city shares a border with Tijuana, Mexico, and has become one of the largest refugee resettlement locations in recent years.

“We’ve got a very diverse population here, which means also a very diverse set of needs, right?” said Tsurumoto Grassi. She added that many have varying immigration statuses.

Both Seruelo and Tsurumoto Grassi said that “know your rights” workshops to educate people have been essential. Seruelo said presentations have been adapted to various languages such as Filipino, Somali, and Arabic to meet participants’ needs. Up in the Bay Area, Chan said rapid response networks that respond to ICE raids have also been crucial to connecting migrants with support.

“Education helps empower communities,” said Chan. “The motto we’ve all been trying to take to heart is power, not panic. It’s important to focus on empowering ourselves rather than panicking.”

Immigrant advocates like Seruelo and Tsurumoto Grassi also come from families with histories of migration. Tsurumoto Grassi is a fourth-generation Japanese American whose family was detained and imprisoned during World War II for being Japanese. Seruelo arrived in San Diego from the Philippines in 2005 to build a new life, joining one of the largest Filipino communities in Southern California. Their need to do this work is driven by their heritage and value for San Diego’s diverse residents.

“I do this work because I don’t want to see that history repeat,” Tsurumoto Grassi said. “I don’t want to see other families go through the same injustices.”

Prism is an independent and nonprofit newsroom led by journalists of color. We report from the ground up and at the intersections of injustice.