California Sheriff Says Sanctuary Laws Make Communities “Less Safe”

Members of California law enforcement have had their work cut out for them over the last several years of the state’s sickeningly lax policies regarding illegal immigrants.

Now, one sheriff in the Golden State is standing in the gap, pointing out the shocking crime statistics and calling for an end to California’s Sanctuary State law.

In a tweet on Monday, Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes pointed to data he says shows a clear spike in recidivism in his jurisdiction due to the so-called Sanctuary State law.

Senate Bill 54 “has made our community less safe,” Barnes said, according to NBC 4. “The law has resulted in new crimes because my deputies were unable to communicate with their federal partners about individuals who committed serious offenses and present a threat to our community if released.”

“The two-year social science experiment with sanctuary laws must end,” Barnes tweeted. “Rather than protect our immigrant community, the law has enabled offenders to be released, often times back into the immigrant communities they prey upon, and create new victims.”

Barnes reported that 1,507 inmates released from Orange County Jail last year were listed as having “ICE detainers,” meaning Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities wanted notification when the inmate was about to be released from jail, something required of “only the most seriously violent suspects,” Barnes said, according to NBC 4. Of those, only 492 were actually transferred to ICE officials, the remaining were exempted.

Of the 1,015 inmates exempted from notification to ICE, Barnes continues, 238 were arrested yet again for new crimes in the county. Charges included assault and battery, rape, and robbery.

The year before yielded similar results, Barnes stated. “In 2018, there were 1,823 inmates in the county jail who had ICE detainers. The sheriff released 823 of them to federal authorities as allowed by the law, but another 1,106 were released and 173 committed new crimes in the county.”

SB54 went into effect on January 1, 2018, opening up the state to a cascade of additional legislation that not only protected illegal immigrants but expanded their rights under the law.

According to Law Enforcement Today, just a few of the bills passed by Governor Gavin Newsom (D) after being vetoed by former Governor Jerry Brown (D) for being too extreme include:

  • Senate Bill 225 allows illegal aliens to hold any “appointed civil office” and to “receive any form of compensation that the person is not otherwise prohibited from receiving pursuant to federal law.” A nearly identical bill was vetoed last year by former Gov. Brown.
  • Assembly Bill 668 locks Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) out of state courthouses. This legislation was also previously vetoed by Gov. Brown.
  • Senate Bill 104 expands the health benefits to illegal aliens by making aliens aged 19-25 eligible for Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program. Illegal aliens 18-years old and younger were already eligible.
  • Assembly Bill 1645 requires the California Community Colleges and the California State University to designate a Dreamer Resource Liaison on each of their respective campuses to help illegal alien and other immigrant students obtain financial aid and other resources such as social and legal services.
  • Assembly Bill 32 bans private prisons, the majority which contract with ICE to hold illegal aliens while their cases go through immigration court.
  • Assembly Bill 1747 restricts the use of the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS) for immigration enforcement.

It looks like President Trump was exactly right when he said that “in California … [t]hey don’t treat their people (citizens) as well as they treat illegal immigrants.”

This article was first published on the Activist Mommy website, and is republished with permission. You may not use, copy, distribute, publish, syndicate, sub-license and transmit the whole or any part of such material in any manner and in any format and/or media without the permission of the original publishers.

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