Newsom vows to veto bill that would block corrections from working with Trump ICE
California Gov. Gavin Newsom made an about-face in his efforts to thwart President Donald Trump’s agenda of deporting illegal immigrants in the country.
The 57-year-old revealed he is ready to immediately veto a bill that would force Golden State prison system from cooperating with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, KCRA reported.
The proposed legislation – Assembly Bill 15 authored by Los Angeles-area Rep. Mike Gipson – would block the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from detaining potential prisoners for several reasons.
“…on the basis of a hold request, providing an immigration authority with release date information, or responding to a notification request, transferring to an immigration authority, or facilitating or assisting with a transfer request any individual who is eligible for release pursuant to specified provisions, including, among others, youth offender, elderly, and medical parole releases,” the bill reads.
Current state laws require the corrections department to identify illegal migrant inmates facing deportation, share information with the federal government and hand over individuals to federal prisons to comply with federal law.
The proposed bill touts it would repeal the current provisions, expanding California’s sanctuary state laws.
State Bill 54, the California Values Act was signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown in 2017, made California a sanctuary state for illegal migrants and protected them from several policies enacted under Trump during his first term in the White House.
It prevented local and state law enforcement agencies from working and using resources to assist federal agencies with immigration.
Newsom’s office said it was ready for the governor to immediately veto the bill if it were to land on his desk, the outlet reported.
The bill, which is sponsored by Gipson and six Democratic co-sponsors was introduced to the legislature on Feb. 3, but no hearings have been scheduled for it.
The Democratic governor vetoed AB 1306 in 2023 which would have
“I believe current law strikes the right balance on limiting interaction to support community trust and cooperation between law enforcement and local communities,” Newsom wrote to the legislatures in September 2023.
California has assisted ICE with over 10,500 inmate transfers since Newsom became governor in 2019, according to data obtained by KCRA.
Following Trump’s election win in November, Newsom began preparing his state for ways to roadblock the commander in chief’s initiatives.
The governor wrote in a memo to his administration about the creation of a “creation of an Immigrant Support Network comprised of regional ‘hubs’” that would connect illegal migrants with public services, Politico reported in November.
Newsom had also asked politicians for an additional $25 million earmarked for legal fees the state would need to challenge Trump’s policies.
On Feb. 7, Newsom signed laws that put $50 million aside for the state to use to defend immigrants amid the president’s mass deportation plans.
One of the laws allocates $25 million for the state Department of Justice to fight legal battles against the federal government, and another sets aside $25 million in part for legal groups to defend immigrants facing possible deportation.
