[UPDATED with ACLU Applause:] California TRUST Act Takes Aim at Feds' "Secure Communities" and Arizona's SB 1070

See the end of this post for an update on the ACLU applauding the California Senate vote.

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ORIGINAL POST, JULY 6, 1:07 A.M.: A bill that had been devised as an answer to the federal government's controversial Secure Communities program won approval on the California state Senate floor Thursday after a slight tweak in the packaging made it a dig at Arizona's divisive immigration reform law.

Authored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), and presented by state Senate floor manager Kevin de Leόn (D-Los Angeles), AB 1081, or "The TRUST Act," passed by a vote of 21-13 Thursday.

It had cleared a Senate committee in June with a 5-2 vote and was originally crafted long before the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down most of Arizona's SB 1070, save the anti-immigrant law's most-controversial "show your papers" provision that many assume fosters racial profiling.

"Today's vote signals to the nation that California cannot afford to be another Arizona," Ammiano said in a statement after the Senate floor vote. "The bill also limits unjust and onerous detentions for deportation in local jails of community members who do not pose a threat to public safety."

The TRUST Act, which was originally crafted to respond to the federal government's Secure Communities program that has been blamed for more than 72,000 deportations in California, would set clear standards for local governments to comply with requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain people for deportation.

Protections against racial profiling would be undertaken to guarantee only those with serious or violent felony convictions would be turned over for deportation, according to TRUST Act sponsors, who add 7 in 10 of those deported under Secure Communities in California had either no convictions or only minor offenses on their records.

Supporters, who include the California Catholic Conference, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Oakland and Palo Alto's police chiefs, have also shared heartbreaking stories about domestic violence victims facing deportation after ICE sweeps and parents allowing crimes against their children to go unreported out of fears their kids would be whisked away as well.

The bill now goes back for a concurrence vote in the Assembly, where an approval would send it on to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk in search of a signature.

UPDATE, JULY 6, 2:01 P.M.: "We congratulate the California Senate on its leadership in passing this legislation, which is a model for states seeking to reject Arizona's approach of immigration-based policing," says Jennie Pasquarella, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, in an ACLU statement.

She continues, "The TRUST Act sends a strong message that California is not Arizona. It will protect against racial profiling and allow our local police to do their jobs and focus on public safety."

The ACLU of Southern California and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca recently commissioned a report that found an average of 2,100 people per day are detained in Los Angeles County jails on immigration holds, the vast majority of whom are not serious criminal offenders. In 2011, 14 percent of those in LA County jails were transferred to immigration officials.

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28 comments
Henchy
Henchy

Trust Act? I have no trust left..I'm better off as an Illegal in the state I've been born and raised in for 45 yrs..I just want equal rights as a tax paying Californian. Guess the Libs/Dems are out for their own party without any concern for the people that actually pay the bill. Can you say TREASON..? These criminals need to be abolished from the planet.

Henchy
Henchy

7 billion of the 16 billion is in new spending..something Brown or OC Weekly would ever tell you. The new low speed BS train is a money grab and the worst financial decesion in CA history. 100% facts and figures to back why it's a bad idea..but the Libs don't care about the best interest to the taxpayers - just want to steal your cash and screw us for yrs...wake up and use your brain and simple LOGIC people. the true numbers don't lie. What we approved and what they want to give isn't within 1/1000th of the deal.

☣  Porno the Clown  ☣
☣ Porno the Clown ☣

Gotta love it ... Free college, no vehicle impound for illegals, free medical ... and now no deportation even if convicted of a felony.  Your state has turned into an illegal alien shit hole!

chapulincolorado
chapulincolorado

If you don't like it, you are free to self deport your Anglo European illegal alien self back to your homeland (Europe).

Fox Wood
Fox Wood

Can we start a referendum/proposition now to overturn this insane TRUST act?

chapulincolorado
chapulincolorado

@Fox Wood If you don't like it... Go back to your homeland, Europe! No one is forcing you to live on foreign land!

Dave Francis
Dave Francis

WHISTLE BLOWER TELLS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS DEFRAUDING TAX PAYERS.   Although the truth seems to remain subdued, the illegal alien child tax credit is ready to resurface. My guess the IRS, the Obama administration prefer the truth not to come out.  This however is a very serious situation, especially when Whistle-Blower steps forward and tell the truth about this disgraceful state of affairs.  This is an article from the NumbersUSA website, which the open border fanatics would certainly not want you to see:   The Treasury Department’s Inspector General determined that $4.2 billion was paid in 2010, up from less than $1 billion in 2005. Leading Democrats are resisting a bill that would stop future payments. YOU MIGHT DEMAND FROM THE OBAMA INJUSTICE DEPARTMENT, WHY ARETHEY PURSUING ARIZONA, ALABAMA, GEORGIA, UTAH, SOUTH CAROLINA AND SOME OF THE OTHER STATES, WHEN THEY ARE  TRYING TO PROTECT THEIR LAWFUL INHABITANTS FROM THE ILLEGAL ALIEN FINANCIAL INVASION?   In WTHR’s latest report on Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) abuse and fraud, the Indianapolis NBC affiliate discussed revelations brought forward by an IRS whistleblower - "We were being told by upper management to ignore fraud, to assign ITIN numbers and...Pay out refunds to people who are laying…It's a license to steal when you allow that."   Howard Antelis, a tax examiner at the IRS's ITIN processing center in Texas, contacted WTHR after seeing its series on ITIN fraud. He and other tax examiners said that IRS managers, for years, instructed them to "look the other way" while processing ITIN applications that appear to be fraudulent – even if they contain clear signs of criminal activity.   One time, Howard decided to investigate ITIN applications for dozens of children attending the same school in South Carolina. (Adult tax filers can request an ITIN for a child in order to get child tax credits and a larger tax refund.) He discovered the school didn't exist, but his bosses ordered him to approve the scam applications anyway.   Howard said, "We're tax examiners but the truth is we're not supposed to look into anything…It's like an assembly line…Get it out of here and don't worry about the fraud. Fraud slows us down…We're supposed to protect taxpayers, so somebody had to say something." He decided to call the Inspector General's office in Washington, D.C.   The IG's office sent auditors to interview Howard and other tax examiners. They learned that IRS employees were actually encouraged to ignore signs of fraud. The final report on the investigation, which took over a year, will be released this summer. It's expected to show that millions of illegal aliens can get ITINs by filing fraudulent paperwork.   "It's pure negligence by management and they've been trying to keep it quiet," Howard said. "There is a criminal element that is defrauding the U.S. government by filing mountains and mountains of these fraudulent applications…[The IRS managers] don't want to deal with it. That's where all the fraud is. The fraud is in the fake notary stamps and fake documents which we've been accepting…There is a state-by-state list of notaries that shows which are registered and legitimate, but the IRS won't let us check those registries."   After WTHR first reported on ITIN mismanagement and fraud, the IRS sent senior officials to investigate the ITIN processing center. WTHR says this has led to tax examiners getting more training on identifying fraudulent paperwork and equipment to help them better inspect documents. Also, illegal aliens must now prove their identity through original, certified documents.   Howard’s revelations did not come without a cost to him personally. The IRS dropped his job performance rating, which affects his paycheck. The IRS claimed his job performance dropped from "exceeds fully successful" to "minimally successful." Still, Howard wants to continue his fight for ITIN reform. "I just want to see things fixed. We've been allowing the U.S. taxpayer to get robbed for years now and those days appear to be over."   If we are ever going to get out of this $16 trillion dollar mess, both party incumbents need to be thrown out of office. The only sanity left in Washington is the slow but growing group of Constitutional TEA PARTY leaders, who should replace not only the Democrats, but the majority of Republicans who don’t comply with the ‘Rule of Law’. If we just vote for the same mixture of low key criminals, we will never recover from the issues that plague us? Whether it’s the 20 million illegal aliens and the strong criminal element amongst us, they should not be rewarded for breaking our laws; the law abiding citizen and green card holder are carrying with financial support billions of dollars annually.  Nor should we forget the state, county and municipal governments, who are just as guilty in stealing, tax payer’s money, to support the illegal alien invasion.  Join the growing millions of TEA PARTY members at your local chapter, as this is the only way America can survive. WELFARE COSTS FOR CHILDREN OF ILLEGAL ALIENS EXCEEDS $646 MILLION IN JUST LOS ANGELES COUNTY ALONE– CAN YOU EVEN COMPREHEND THAT FIGURE?   SPEAK UP AND DON’T LET THESE MENTAL INCOMPETENT FOOLS GET AWAY WITH THESE LIES. NOT ONLY ILLEGAL ALIENS PILFERING EACH OF THE 50 STATES WELFARE, FOOD STAMPS, PUBLIC HOUSING, EDUCATION, HEALTH CARE, BUT NOW STEALING OUR TAX MONEY.   E-Verify are still currently voluntary, but if it were made mandatory, illegal migrants and immigrants would be locked out of the mainstream workforce, and change to the Birthright citizenship bill. A simple amendment would halt forever illegal aliens coming here and taking advantage by using their unborn children as a right to citizenship welfare. If E-VERIFY were passed by Washington as permanent and an amendment to the BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP ACT, it would definitely stem the millions of foreign pregnant Mothers who come here draining states and federal treasuries. You the voter have the power to stop the THEFT of your taxes.   I have no sympathy for the population of California, as they keep on voting for the same clowns in Sacramento with the approval of the head Clown Governor Jerry Brown signed what is called the anti-Arizona law. But remember in States where there is little or no    enforcement of voting laws such as the Socialist-Marxist –Liberal state of California—ILLEGAL ALIENS ARE VOTING. What is going to happen now with this ‘Sanctuary state’ is millions of illegal alien families are going to converge on California, as its open day for public welfare and other services.  In 2006 illegal aliens withdrew $1 billion dollars in state uncompensated assistance and that doesn’t include education.   NO COPYRIGHT. BROADCAST TO THE REST OF AMERICA? ADD TO FACEBOOK & TWITTER.  

chapulincolorado
chapulincolorado

@Dave Francis Francis And on this corner: another confused soul...uneducated ignorant Anglo European American thinking this is his homeland!

Tracy4mitchellbooks
Tracy4mitchellbooks

If California is going to be a sanctuary for ILLEGAL immigrants, what state is going to be a sanctuary state for Californians? 

chanchis1
chanchis1

@Tracy4mitchellbooks Alta California has already been a sanctuary for illegal aliens ever since the Anglo Europeans arrived!

Dave Francis
Dave Francis

ONLY THE CONSTITUTIONAL TEA PARTY CAN SAVE US NOW? WHEN the mass departure begins from Arizona, other states will follow suit by enforcement policing of their borders to save themselves from giving uncompensated health care and other public assistance to the illegal alien invaders. Yet the lobotomized idiots who run California assembly are going to pass an anti-Arizona law, so the police cannot question the estimated 9,859,027 foreign born population of California, with a total population of 36,756,666 persons as of 2006. How many are illegal aliens had settled there is unknown, but according to the Los Angeles Times, 40 percent of workers in Los Angeles County pay no taxes and are working under the table, because they are predominantly illegal aliens. It’s inevitable that unknown numbers of illegal alien refugee’s will arrive in the-Liberal-Socialist-Marxist state of California, where an already escalating $8.6 billion deficit is going to rise even more?  With illegal aliens pouring in from Arizona looking for state free handouts, the state will have a real financial mess on its hands. CALIFORNIANS NEED TO REMOVE THE LIBERALS IN THEIR CAPITOL, WHO ARE DESTROYING THEIR STATE.  THEY SHOULD DEMAND THAT EVERYBODY WHO VOTES HAS AN OFFICIAL PICTURE ID, BECAUSE THERE IS NO DOUBT IN MIND THAT ILLEGAL ALIENS WILL TAKE THE MINIMAL OF RISK  VOTING IN LOCAL, STATE AND THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IF DISPLAYING OF OFFICIAL ID IS ABSENT.   OTHER states will soon follow Arizona's desperate measure, to protect their lawful population. Arizona will shortly be checking the immigration status of those settled there when they run afoul of the law. ALABAMA is second on the list to be threatened by the Obama legions, pressed by the radical pro-illegal immigrant organizations and the Liberal mainstream news.  Anybody who dares to overreach the federal authority of this uncontrollable government will be intimidated by the Dept of Justice. California will suffer from 'self-inflicted monetary wounds' caused by the Democratic indifference, to Californians taxpayers. California, the “Sanctuary State’ for illegal aliens and illegal alien criminals, such as the one that slaughtered the Bologna family members, husband and two kids in San Francisco are going to arrive in hordes in the welcoming cities.  California, Nevada, Texas, New Mexico will be devastated by these parasites from throughout the world, who head there. Just like illegal immigration, ObamaCare is going to allow illegal aliens to pilfer the welfare system? It’s blatantly obvious that it’s going to encourage unknown numbers of desperate people across the border or otherwise overstay a visa?     CALIFORNIA, with the rapidly deteriorating county of Los Angeles, has ignored the onslaught from South of our border.  I hope that California residents realize there being cheated out of billions of dollars yearly? Just ask Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Andronovich of not just millions, but billions of dollars annually being collected by foreign nationals. It’s no real secret that Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services reported that over $53 million in welfare benefits, were issued to illegal alien parents for their native-born children this last March. The $53 million consist of $20 million in CalWORKs (welfare) and $33 million in food stamps — representing 21% of all CalWORKs and food stamp issuance's in the County.  At this rate, the projected annual cost is over $625 million. “With the $550 million for public safety and nearly $500 million for healthcare, the total cost for illegal immigrants to County taxpayers exceeds $1.6 billion dollars a year,” said Antonovich.  “These costs do not include the hundreds of millions of dollars for education.”   ARE there any records of what the cost would be currently, with the flood already here and the 500.000 projection of pregnant females that appear each year looking for their free handouts in child deliveries? WELFARE COSTS FOR CHILDREN OF ILLEGAL ALIENS EXCEEDS $646 MILLION IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY – CAN YOU EVEN COMPREHEND THAT FIGURE? That was the Year-end closing 2011 figures, but records of actual cost from Sacramento are probably under counted, suggesting that illegal aliens are the main contributors to the disgraceful deficit.  ALREADY WE ARE SEEING CITIES IN CALIFORNIA AS STOCKTON FILING FOR BANKRUPTCY, WHICH IS JUST THE BEGINNING,  thanks to clowns like Governors  Jerry Brown and the Mayors of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Join your local multi-million person TEA PARTY and save America from the Democrats, Liberals and even Republicans, by voting for the Constitutional Tea party leadership and vote them into Congress.   E-Verify is still currently voluntary, but if it were made mandatory, illegal migrants and immigrants would be scrupulously locked out of the mainstream workforce, the same with the Birthright citizenship bill. If E-VERIFY were passed by Washington as permanent and an amendment to the BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP ACT, it would definitely stem the millions of foreign pregnant Mothers who come here draining states and federal treasuries.  

chanchis1
chanchis1

@Dave Francis The only illegal aliens are the Europeans, they should go back to their homeland (Europe).

davidh
davidh

FEAR THE OBAMA ZOMBIES!

Matthew T. Coker
Matthew T. Coker

How about if California gets to keep in-state all of the tax revenue we send to DC, instead of seeing it distributed to toothless, welfare-sucking yo-yos who blame "Mexkinz" for snowy reception on the teevees in their double-wides? 

Henchy
Henchy

yeah Coker - let's give our tax monies to the illegals instead. Report the real deal and costs of illegals in an unbiased article..OC Weekly sure has gone extreme on the one sided racists crap. Anti American rag...are you being subsidized from the Mexican government?

chanchis1
chanchis1

@Henchy Let the truth free your ignorance!

Dave Lieberman
Dave Lieberman

You've obviously never heard the term "law enforcement priorities." In your Utopian state, are there enough police to handle every single incident of law breaking? Do you get pulled over every time you go 66 in a 65? Violent criminals are—and should be—the priority for the police, not someone doing a California roll through a stop sign or failing to signal a right turn into a driveway.

Christopher Neal
Christopher Neal

Illegals are basically stealing food from you and your family.

chanchis1
chanchis1

@Christopher Neal I agree with you. We should send all those Anglo European illegal aliens back to their real homeland!

xyz
xyz

This is absolutely disgusting.  How is it that California will not prosecute these Criminals.  Illegal aliens are breaking laws and Calif is just going to look the other way?  This just proves that this country is going to hell.  I cannot believe this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  As far as I am concerned California deserves going bankrupt.  I will never vote for anything that will cost the state of California any money nor will I vote for any tax increases. California deserves what it gets.

Christopher Neal
Christopher Neal

Yay, let's hear it for one-sided journalism. You guys are fucking LAME! Put together a narrative that supports your world view and pass it off as news! Well done, losers. In other news, LA County Sheriff Lee Baca supports Secure Communities and opposes this TRUST Act, arguing that Secure Communities is a necessary enforcement tool.

chanchis1
chanchis1

@Christopher Neal Exactly what you are accusing OC Weekly of doing, is what the original criminal Anglo European Americans and their future ANCHOR Babies have been doing for a few centuries in the USA! Next time educate yourself before you make yourself sound like an uneducated ignorant that you are. If you don't like our country, go back to your homeland in Europe, you Anglo European illegal alien!

Henchy
Henchy

Lee Baca is still a kook..

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