Taxes, Lawsuits and Injunctions – CalMatters

from Kayla Michalovich and Maya S. MillerCalMatters

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California’s Democratic senators on Tuesday proposed a measure that would make it easier for people to sue federal agents for civil rights violations, a bill shaped by fears of the Trump administration immigration enforcement practices.

The bill by Senators Scott Wiener and Aisha Wahab, both Bay Area Democrats, took on added significance after federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretty, a US citizen and intensive care nurse, in Minnesota last weekend. Senators debated the measure on the floor for more than 90 minutes before voting along party lines, 30 to 10, to send it to the Assembly.

“It’s a sad statement about where we are in this country that this has to be a partisan issue,” Wiener said just before the vote on his bill, which is also known as the “No Kings Act.” “Red, blue, everybody has constitutional rights. And everybody should have the ability to hold people accountable when they violate those rights.”

It’s among several bills lawmakers are pushing forward in the new year to counter escalating aggressive immigration enforcement tactics and protect immigrant communities. They include bills that would tax for-profit detention companies, ban law enforcement officers from working as federal agents and try to limit court-ordered arrests.

Those efforts follow a set of legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year to counter the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign in California, including the nation’s first measure to prohibit employees from wearing masks and others that limit their access to schools and hospitals.

While some of these laws are facing legal challengesthe new batch of proposals offers “practical solutions that are fully within the control of the state,” said Shiu-Ming Chier, deputy director of the California Immigrant Policy Center.

Here’s an overview of some of the key bills lawmakers are considering:

Out of a job as a federal agent

Rep. Isaac Bryan, D-Culver City, has authored a bill that would ban law enforcement from taking a side job as a federal immigration agent.

At a news conference in San Francisco earlier this month, Bryan said the measure is particularly timely as the federal administration ramps up recruitment of local law enforcement officers in California.

“We do not cooperate with the kidnapping of members of our own community, but there is a loophole in state law,” he said. “Even though you can’t cooperate with ICE while working your police shift, you can take a second job at the Department of Homeland Security. And I don’t think that’s right.”

In an interview with CalMatters, he said the legislation aims to provide transparency and accountability and close that loophole.

“The federal administration has created not only a secret police, but a secret army at the expense of health care, social safety nets and key benefits that the American people need and rely on to get through the day,” Bryan said. “All those resources were diverted to the unestablished paramilitary force that patrols our streets and literally kills American citizens.”

Keep ICE out of courthouses

Sen. Eloise Gomez Reyes, D-San Bernardino, has introduced legislation to prevent federal immigration agents from making “unannounced and indiscriminate” arrests in courthouses.

“The issue is clear,” Gomez Reyes said in a statement. “One of the primary responsibilities of government is to protect people – not terrorize them. California will not allow the federal government to make political targets of people who are trying to be good guardians of the law. Discouraging people from coming to court makes our community less safe.”

The legislation was introduced nearly two weeks after a federal judge ordered the US Department of Justice end civil arrests in Northern California immigration courtsruling that its deportation policies failed to address the “chilling effects, safety risks and impact on hearing attendance.”

Efforts to strengthen protections in California courts were also supported by Sen. Susan Rubio, Democrat of West Covina, who introduced a bill which would allow remote court appearances for the majority of civil or criminal state court hearings, trials, or conferences through January 2029.

Taxation of Detention Centers

Rep. Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, has introduced a bill that would impose a 50 percent tax on profits from immigration detention centers. Over 5,700 people have been detained seven immigration detention centers throughout Californiathree of which are located in Kern County.

Escalating “resistance”

Cheer, of the California Immigrant Policy Center, said the early introduction of the bills indicates greater urgency on the part of the state Legislature to address problems related to immigration enforcement.

“My hope for this year is that the state can be as bold and innovative as possible in seeing the crisis that immigration enforcement communities face,” she said.

That means providing funding for lawyers to represent people facing deportation, addressing existing gaps in state laws about sharing information with the federal government and looking at companies that profit directly from the business of arresting and deporting people, Cheer said.

Republicans criticized the measures, which they characterized as exceeding federal priorities.

“Nobody likes to see what happens in Minnesota. Nobody wants to see that in California,” said Sen. Tony Strickland, a Republican who represents Huntington Beach. Instead, he argued, cities and states should abandon their so-called “sanctuary” policies that impede coordination between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.

He also criticized Democrats for using valuable Senate time to prepare for what-if scenarios instead of addressing the existing problems in California.

“At the end of the day, we have very serious problems here in California, and we need to start focusing on California-specific problems.”

Kevin Johnson, an immigration law professor and former dean of the UC Davis School of Law, said state and local governments are trying to figure out how far to go in opposing federal immigration measures given Trump’s threats to pull funding from sanctuary jurisdictions.

“While there is concern and fear in immigrant communities, there is some comfort that comes from the support expressed by state and local officials,” he said. “As the Trump administration escalates its aggressive deportation tactics across the country, California is escalating its resistance.”

CalMatters reporter Wendy Fry contributed to this story.

Kayla Michalovich is a contributor to California Local News.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.