The National Day Laborer Organizing Network is looking to jump into the legal battle between Huntington Beach and state leaders over whether or not the city has to abide by sanctuary laws protecting undocumented immigrants.
[Read: Huntington Beach Sues California Over Sanctuary Laws]
The law at issue is the California Values Act, which was approved in 2017 and bars state and local police from arresting people exclusively for their immigration status and limits how much law enforcement can cooperate with federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials.
State sanctuary law allows law enforcement agencies to honor ICE detainer requests of undocumented immigrants if that person has been convicted of a felony or other series criminal charges.
[Read: How Many People Are Turned Over to Immigration by OC Sheriff Deputies?]
Surf City officials argue they don’t have to follow the sanctuary laws because of their status as a charter city, an argument they’ve made across a series of lawsuits with state leaders on issues like voter ID and zoning laws.
[Read: Huntington Beach Disregards California’s Sanctuary Laws, Directs Police to Work With ICE]
But state officials contend that cities can’t just pick and choose what laws they’re going to follow.
Now, the day laborer organizing network is looking to jump into the case, saying they have an interest in protecting day laborers from unconstitutional searches by law enforcement.
“While plaintiffs characterize this law as protecting criminals, it actually protects innocent members of immigrant communities from ideologically driven and overzealous enforcement of a wholly federal legislative scheme by state and local law enforcement,” lawyers wrote in a Thursday filing.
The organization is represented by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, also known as MALDEF.
Thomas Saenz, MALDEF’s president and general counsel, said throwing out the state sanctuary law doesn’t fix any of the problems around immigration in a Thursday interview with Voice of OC.
“Our criminal system provides punishment for certain periods of time, and once they’re released they’ve served their time … that does not make them ongoing criminals,” Saenz said. “This double standard that somehow an immigrant who has a conviction is labeled a dangerous criminal for their entire life while citizens are not is very troubling, and frankly biased.”
City spokesperson Jennifer Carey sent out a statement on Friday from the city and America First Legal, a nonprofit helping the city on the case for free that was created by Stephen Miller, one of President Donald Trump’s top advisors.
The two argued that there’s no law that protects people from the enforcement of federal immigration law.
“Neither NDLON nor persons living illegally in the United States have a legal interest in preventing the enforcement of federal law,” they wrote. “America First Legal and the Huntington Beach City Attorney will vigorously oppose NDLON’s motion to intervene.”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.