Orange County Supervisors Vote to Join Revolt Against California’s ‘Sanctuary State

The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted 3-0 Monday evening to join the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against the State of California’s “sanctuary state” laws.

The Trump administration filed suit against California earlier this month to challenge the Immigrant Worker Protection Act (HB 450), the Inspection and Review of Facilities Housing Federal Detainees law (AB 103), and the California Values Act (SB 54).

Since then, a revolt against California’s “sanctuary state” laws has spread among local governments in Orange County. Last week, the city council of Los Alamitos voted to declare that the municipal government would defy California’s “sanctuary state” laws, and join the lawsuit against them. Other cities are considering similar measures.

Fox News noted: “The county moved earlier this week to improve communication with federal immigration agents by publishing the release dates of inmates online. The sheriff’s department used to screen inmates in the county’s jails to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents identify those subject to deportation but had to stop after the state law passed.”

The sudden surge of opposition to California’s “sanctuary state” laws has the potential to complicate Democratic Party plans to take several congressional seats in Orange County this year currently held by Republicans.

Opposition to the “sanctuary state,” coupled with opposition to California’s new gas tax, could motivate enough Republicans and independent voters in the traditionally conservative county to keep Democrats from scoring wins there — and potentially keep the House of Representatives in Republican hands.

Aside from the national implications, however, the revolt in Orange County is also simply the expression of long-simmering resentment at illegal immigration.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named to Forward’s 50 “most influential” Jews in 2017. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.