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City Council Suing California Over Sanctuary For Illegals

(Photo by Earl Gibson III/Getty Images for MoveOn.org)

David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
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Huntington Beach’s city council is the latest California community to fight the state’s laws offering sanctuary to illegal immigrants.

The council voted Monday night to condemn the state over its lax approach to illegal immigration and is filing suit against the administration of Gov. Jerry Brown, KABC-TV Los Angeles reports.

California law is severely restricting the interaction of state and municipal police with federal immigration agents who are seeking to detain and deport illegal aliens. The Department of Justice (DOJ) says the legal straightjacket is acting as a barrier enforcing federal immigration statutes.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors has already opposed the state’s policy and will back the DOJ’s legal action against California. The community of Los Alamitos also wants to adopt its own immigration statutes.

In Huntington Beach, the council says the state has overreached its constitutional authority and needs to be told so.

“We hope that a majority of our colleagues will agree with Mayor pro-tem Peterson and I that we want the city attorney to file a suit against the state of California to exempt us from SB54. We’re not going to be writing an ordinance, we’re not going to be doing something like that. We’re suing on the constitutional overreach grounds,” Mayor Mike Posey said.

Council supported the motion with a vote of 6 to 1. Its members heard testimony from the public before the vote that indicated passionate opinions on both sides of the issue.

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