California Officials Criticize Potential ICE Immigration Raids

A newspaper report that said federal immigration officials are preparing to conduct massive raids in Northern California prompted a quick response from California Attorney General Xavier Becerra this week.

Becerra acknowledged the federal government's jurisdiction over immigration enforcement, but said it must respect the state's laws and its right to determine how to keep Californians safe.

"We are not in the business of deportation, we are in the business of public safety," Becerra said. "We will always work with our federal partners in every respect to go after drug dealers, human traffickers, potential terrorists. But Donald Trump should not ask us to be a deportation force for his immigration enforcement activities."

During a media briefing Thursday, the attorney general addressed a report by the San Francisco Chronicle that quoted an anonymous source warning there could be more than 1,500 arrests in San Francisco and nearby cities. Becerra sought to tamp down fears and encourage immigrants to know their rights.

"Just know that California is doing all it can to provide everyone in this state with the types of protections of their rights and their privacy as we can," Becerra said, pointing to two new state laws that aim to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation.

SB 54, the so-called sanctuary state law, significantly limits who state and local law enforcement agencies can detain and hold at the request of federal immigration authorities. AB 450 prohibits employers from agreeing to let immigration agents enter the workplace site without a judicial warrant.

A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to comment on possible raids.

On Wednesday, the Oakland City Council voted to take the city's sanctuary law further and prohibit the police department from cooperating with any federal immigration enforcement operations, not even providing traffic control.

That drew a reaction from ICE Deputy Director Thomas Homan, who said in a statement the agency must make more arrests of criminal aliens on the street because state and local sanctuary laws prevent them from doing so in jails.

"Our officers are forced to make arrests in the community, where there is increased risk to the public and law enforcement officers, and where ICE will likely encounter other illegal aliens that weren't previously on our radar," Homan said.

Silicon Valley congressman Ro Khanna and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said any large raids by ICE would amount to political retaliation.

"Hard-working immigrants will be targeted and their families torn apart, simply for being Californians," Pelosi said. "These raids will certainly not make Americans safer."

John Eastman, a law professor at Chapman University in Orange County, said ICE is taking the right approach in potentially targeting San Francisco and other Bay Area cities.

"If you are an administration devoted to enforcing federal law and you're not getting any cooperation whatsoever from local officials, then devoting more resources to actually enforce federal law in those jurisdictions is perfectly appropriate," Eastman said.

In the meantime, immigrant advocates in several Bay Area cities are on alert with rapid response networks prepared to offer legal assistance and other support services.

Marisela Esparza, who coordinates the rapid response network in San Francisco, said about 20 immigration attorneys are on standby in the city.  Still, she doubted ICE would carry out such a large operation in the region since the agency's past sweeps under the Trump administration have been much smaller.

"I truly do not believe they are going to be arresting 1,500 people out on the streets in these potential raids,"  Esparza said. "This is a scare tactic that ICE is using and has been using in the past to scare the community and drive more panic."

Katie Orr and Billy Cruz contributed to this report.