Bill Wells, the Republican mayor of El Cajon, California, has called out a state law that bars police from cooperating with federal agents enforcing immigration laws.
In a recent video released on social media, Wells clarified that El Cajon is not a “sanctuary city” and that he plans to cooperate with federal agents on enforcing immigration law; however, a state law in California has made it illegal for police to cooperate.
“I want to make it clear right now that El Cajon is not a sanctuary city, and we will do everything we can to work with the federal government to help ease this immigration problem, help solve this problem,” Wells said before calling out California Senate Bill 54, passed in 2017, which restricts local law enforcement from “assisting federal agents on immigration enforcement,” according to Fox San Diego.
“It basically said that municipalities can’t work with the federal government in helping with any kind of immigration enforcement,” Wells said. “The Trump administration coming in, specifically Tom Homan, is saying we must comply, and that in his opinion — which I happen to agree with — federal law supersedes state law”:
Wells stressed that police officers face harsh consequences if they comply with federal agents.
“State of California law says that if a police officer does his duty that we’re asking him to do by complying with the federal government, that police officer can be charged with a felony and lose his pension,” Wells said. “We need a lot of clarification; we need some unity on this.”
Renata Castro, an immigration attorney and founder of the law firm USA4ALL, said tensions between state and federal authorities will be tricky regarding the law.
“Only the federal government has the power to detain individuals for immigration violations,” Castro told Fox San Diego.
“We would need a major overhaul of the American legal and constitutional rights, and of due process, in order to change this,” she added. “Even though Trump has a very aggressive agenda, I don’t think he’s going to be able to do that in the next four years.”
Democrat mayors in the United States have already pledged to oppose Trump’s deportation plan in one way or another.
“More than us having [Denver Police Department] stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there,” Democrat Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said. “It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right? You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them.”
After severe blowback from Republicans, including Trump’s incoming border chief, the mayor walked back his comments, clarifying that the city of Denver would only not aid in the enforcement of federal law while encouraging his constituents to protest.
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