A California senator has said that the state won’t aid the incoming Trump administration in its mass deportation efforts because it would be legally unable to.
Sen. Alex Padilla of the Golden State appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, saying that he would work to block state resources from boosting deportation efforts by pushing for the government to follow the constitutional requirement that it’s up to the federal government to control the border.
“There’s an important distinction here. No state’s government, not Texas, not California, not any state in the nation, has a constitutional authority to impose federal immigration law,” the Democrat said. “That is the responsibility of the federal government.”
Trump has insisted that he will declare a national emergency and utilize the military to conduct the mass deportations, a proposed effort that has faced criticism from both Democrats and some Republicans.
“Let the federal government do the federal government’s job, but have state and local officials do the state and local officials’ job,” Padilla added. “There doesn’t have to be a conflict unless that’s what Trump wants.”
A law from 2017, California Senate Bill 54, prohibits the use of state and local resources to aid the federal government in immigration enforcement, Politico noted. Tom Homan, Trump’s appointed border czar, has said that local law enforcement who don’t work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to conduct deportations would be prosecuted.
“Some states like Texas want to push the envelope and try to find a way to assist, but there’s no obligation to do so,” Padilla noted.
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has said that if the federal government doesn’t do its job in protecting the border, the state has the right to step in, such as by installing razor wire on its border with Mexico.
California will not “utilize state and local resources to do the federal government’s job for them,” Padilla vowed Sunday.
The state’s Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas has said that he will “ensure that people feel protected and they feel welcomed.”
Meanwhile, Governor Gavin Newsom has indicated that his state will resist the new Trump administration.
“California is the most populous state in the nation, the most diverse state in the nation, home to more immigrants than any state in the nation,” Padilla told CBS. “The last thing you want to do is have immigrants who are victims of crime afraid to come forward to report the crime. The last thing you want is immigrants who may be witnesses to crime be afraid to come forward and share any information they have in the investigation and prosecution of crimes.”
The senator also shared his worries about Trump’s relationship with California more generally.
“If the federal government will continue to support California in its leadership and so many policy areas, there’s a lot of good work to be done there. But Donald Trump has made it no secret he has it in for California,” Padilla said in reference to FEMA funds that Trump “tried to keep from not the government of California but from California families simply because it’s a state that did not vote for him in the presidential election.”
“We’re trying to inoculate ourselves from those types of threats,” Padilla said on Face the Nation.
