California ‘non-sanctuary’ city sues Newsom regime to enforce its own immigration laws

The coastal California enclave of Huntington Beach which recently voted to designate itself as a “non-sanctuary” city is now suing the state over the right to enforce its own immigration laws.

California Governor Gavin Newsom and the state’s ruling Democrats have announced that they will vehemently oppose President Donald J. Trump’s deportation efforts, once again choosing to side with criminals over residents who follow the law but have become victims of the thugs who have been emboldened by the far-left policies of state and local government.

But city leaders in Huntington Beach aren’t playing Newsom’s game and recently voted to approve an initiative from Mayor Pat Burns to become a “non-sanctuary city for illegal immigration for the prevention of crime.”

“As the City Council Members commented, the intent of this Resolution is to deliberately sidestep the Governor’s efforts to subvert the good work of federal immigration authorities and to announce the City’s cooperation with the federal government, the Trump Administration, and Border Czar Tom Homan’s work,” the city said in a statement.

The city is also suing the Newsom regime over the state’s sanctuary laws which restrict cooperation between local officials and immigration authorities. The suit which specifically names the governor and California Attorney General Rob Bonta focuses on SB 54, titled the California Values Act, a state law enacted in 2017 that limits cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which has begun rounding up and deporting the criminal illegal aliens who were allowed into the country under the Biden regime.

“On the one hand, the sanctuary state law acts as a barrier to any communication or coordination. It forces or directs our local officials to violate certain federal immigration laws, and then it stands in the way of voluntary cooperation with federal agencies,”  Michael Gates who serves as Huntington Beach’s City Attorney told Fox News Digital. “On three levels, it’s completely improper.”

The city argues that it should have control of its own police department.

“To put a fine point, as a Charter City, Huntington Beach’s Police Department does not belong to the State,” the complaint states. “Rather, the Huntington Beach Police Department belongs to the City – and as such, the Police Department should be free from State interference and control.”

“The City and its Police Department should be, therefore, entirely at liberty to employ every lawful means to combat crime and promote public safety for the City’s 200,000 residents,” according to the filing.

The city is arguing that the Newsom regime is breaking the law by ordering local governments not to assist the feds and that the sanctuary state law itself isn’t constitutional.

“We are fighting the Sanctuary State Law because it obstructs our ability to fully enforce the law and keep our community safe,” Mayor Burns said in a statement. “When the stakes are currently so high, with reports of increases in human trafficking, increases in foreign gangs taking over apartment buildings in the U.S., killing, raping, and committing other violent crimes against our citizens, we need every possible resource available to fight crime, including federal resources.”

“Huntington Beach will not sit idly by and allow the obstructionist Sanctuary State Law to put our residents at risk of harm from those who seek to commit violent crimes on U.S. soil,” Burns added.

“The stakes are a lot higher with some of the crimes committed by illegal immigrants,” Gates told Fox News Digital. “It’s very obstructive, this sanctuary state law, and it prevents good, sound law enforcement practices.”

Bonta is among the group of Democrat attorney generals who have already filed suit to block Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship.

“We are asking a court to immediately block this order from taking effect and ensure that the rights of American-born children impacted by this order remain in effect while litigation proceeds,” the left-winger said in a statement. “The President has overstepped his authority by a mile with this order, and we will hold him accountable.”

Bonta’s office told Fox News Digital that he intends to push back against the city’s lawsuit and will defend the state’s anti-ICE law.

“The Attorney General is committed to protecting and ensuring the rights of California’s immigrant communities and upholding vital laws like SB 54, which ensure that state and local resources go toward fighting crime in California communities, not toward federal immigration enforcement,” Bonta’s office said. “Our office successfully fought back against a challenge to SB 54 by the first Trump administration, and we are prepared to vigorously defend SB 54 again.”

Chris Donaldson

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