BILL NUMBER: AJR 21	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Lopez
   (Coauthor: Assembly Member Chu)

                        JUNE 9, 2015

   Relative to immigration policy.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AJR 21, as introduced, Lopez. Immigration policy: priority
enforcement program.
   This measure would state the Legislature's opposition to the
federal Priority Enforcement Program.
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) and the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
intend to rollout a new program dubbed the Priority Enforcement
Program (PEP) upon the termination of the Secure Communities Program
(S-Comm); and
   WHEREAS, Under PEP, ICE plans to institute a "request for
notification" in lieu of a "request for detention" (detainer) system
vis-a-vis local law enforcement; and
   WHEREAS, Like S-Comm, PEP will shift onto local law enforcement
the burden of federal immigration policy enforcement by requesting
local law enforcement to perform federal immigration enforcement
duties; and
   WHEREAS, This program will incorporate a three-tiered system of
civil enforcement priorities for the removal of undocumented
immigrants. Community members, advocates, and media reports indicate
that ICE has failed to apply or has inconsistently applied the
exceptions within each of the three enforcement priorities. In some
cases, it is reported that ICE has targeted individuals who fall
outside of the enforcement priorities; and
   WHEREAS, Assembly Bill 4, Chapter 570 of the Statutes of 2013,
also known as the Trust Act, prohibits California law enforcement
officials from detaining an individual on the basis of an ICE hold
after that individual becomes eligible for release from custody,
unless certain conditions are met, including, among other things,
that the individual has been convicted of specified crimes; and
   WHEREAS, Proposition 47 approved at the November 4, 2014,
statewide general election, which requires a misdemeanor sentence
instead of a felony sentence for certain drug and property offenses,
is inapplicable to persons with prior conviction for serious or
violent crime and registered sex offenders, thus serious criminal
offenders are being incarcerated; and
   WHEREAS, Chapter 174 of the Statutes of 2014 (Senate Bill 1310 of
the 2013-14 Regular Session), reduced the maximum sentence for
misdemeanors to 364 days; and
   WHEREAS, All of these actions by the voters and Legislature seek
to ensure our state also prioritizes its resources and prevents
unintended immigration consequences deriving from minor offenses; and

   WHEREAS, In order to ensure that immigration enforcement is just,
fair, and takes into account the qualities of each individual case,
PEP must contain robust mechanisms for ensuring accountability when
law enforcement engages in questionable enforcement operations or
abusive tactics; and
   WHEREAS, By deporting parents and children, PEP will lead to the
separation of mixed-status families, which represent up to one-third
of California's families, and cause well-documented psychological
trauma, especially to the children; and
   WHEREAS, Requests for the application of prosecutorial discretion
should not summarily be denied, more information needs to be made
available about the weight that ICE allocates to positive equities
and negative factors, safeguards need to be in place so that
erroneous criminal history information can be contested and excluded,
and statistics and information documenting the number of cases in
which ICE has exercised prosecutorial discretion and has denied such
requests must be made available; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature of California opposes the
Priority Enforcement Program and any local law enforcement
involvement with federal immigration enforcement; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, to the Majority
Leader of the Senate, to the Minority Leader of the Senate, and to
each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of
the United States.