Jerry Brown: Sanctuary State Bill is Not a Sanctuary State Bill

California Governor Jerry Brown told NBC News’ Chuck Todd on Meet the Press Sunday morning that SB 54, known colloquially as the “sanctuary state bill,” did not, in fact, declare California to be a “sanctuary state.”

Brown’s exchange with Todd was as follows (via NBC News):

CHUCK TODD:

Couple of California questions I want to ask you that relate to the federal government. There’s a bill that’s moving through the state legislature that would declare California a sanctuary state. You’ve not indicated whether you’re going to be fully supportive of this just yet. Are you? Could you be? And where are you on this idea of suing the federal government over funds that they may withhold if they declare a city a sanctuary city?

GOV. JERRY BROWN:

Yeah. Well, first of all, that bill does not declare California a sanctuary state, number one. Number two, it’s still going through the process. We’re looking at it very carefully. We’re having discussions with the author. There are some changes that I think would be very important–

CHUCK TODD:

Why do you believe it isn’t fair to call that that it declares California– explain why–

GOV. JERRY BROWN:

Because–

CHUCK TODD:

–that you don’t like that phrase?

GOV. JERRY BROWN:

Well, as a former seminarian, I have a very clear image of the sanctuary. It’s in a church. It conjures up Medieval sanctuary places. And it says more than a specific set of legislative requirements, which the goal here is to block and not to collaborate with abuse of federal power. That’s the goal.

Though the word “sanctuary” does not appear in the text of SB 54, the “California Values Act,” the bill’s leading sponsor, State Senate pro Tem Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles), has himself used the term “sanctuary” to describe the policies in the bill.

The bill’s would “prohibit state and local law enforcement agencies, including school police and security departments, from using resources to investigate, interrogate, detain, detect, or arrest persons for immigration enforcement purposes.”

The State Senate passed the bill earlier this year, and it is currently making its way through the State Assembly.

Brown did not specify what changes he would like to see in the bill.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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