California Governor vetoes TRUST Act angers amnesty activists

The TRUST Act’s sponsor Democrat Tom Ammiano said: “California cannot afford to become another Arizona.” However, Governor Jerry Brown disagreed and vetoed AB1081, the TRUST Act that would have essentially made California a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants. “In the end I think Governor Brown listened to his heart and knew it was wrong to release criminal immigrants into our communities where many will commit more serious crimes,” said Jamiel Shaw Sr., father of murdered 17-year-old Jamiel Shaw Jr. While the veto sent shock waves throughout the illegal immigrant community, illegal alien criminals hoping to slip by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when they are released from prison will be subject to deportation proceedings. Shaw Sr. explained this win is only temporary and Sacramento lawmakers will continue to pander to the Latino community. “We are satisfied with the outcome, but our job won’t end with the TRUST Act’s failure,” Shaw Sr. somberly explained. “We are already regrouping and will continue to expose lawmakers who try to pass legislation that will harm our American dream.” Many inner cities in California continue to be ravaged by high crime rates and constant gang-related violence. It’s not common to see victim’s families step up to the challenge and say “no more, not in my community.” But that’s exactly what the Shaw family has done. “We have American pride and our children matter just as much as any other kids in our neighborhood. We will keep up this fight as long as we have to and then we will pass our fight onto our children to ensure our communities are safe from illegal criminals,” Shaw Sr. said. The TRUST Act would have erased the often-controversial federal Secure Communities (S-Comm) program that was set up under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to partner federal (FBI) and local law enforcement agencies to deport illegal immigrants and protect the country’s borders from criminal or possible terrorists seeking respite in the United States. S-Comm allows local police departments to send arrestee fingerprint data to ICE, which in turn uses the information to prioritize deportations. The program successfully deported 400,000 illegal immigrants last year. But that high number comes with passionate disapproval from Latino organizations and Democrat lawmakers in California. “Every year there are a barrage of new laws that try to undermine illegal immigration laws already on the books,” Shaw Sr. explained. Tom Ammiano, a Democrat, said he authored AB1081 to reform California's participation in the “Secure Communities” program. The hot-button immigration law on the books continues to face criticism from liberals in large cities who say deportations of illegal immigrants is unfair and primarily targets the Latino community. “The vote (to move forward) recognized that S-Comm is sabotaging our public safety,” Ammiano said. “The TRUST Act is the solution we need to begin rebuilding the confidence that our local law enforcement worked so hard to build, but that ICE has shattered." Ammiano said after the veto, “this issue is more than a governor's issue, it think it's a movement. And I think elected officials sometimes have trouble getting their arms around that.” Apparently Governor Brown, who vetoed AB1081, didn’t get the California lawmaker’s memo. He explained in his veto statement that the law wasn’t well written and could leave room for more victims of senseless crimes; “I am unable to sign this bill as written. Under the bill, local officers would be prohibited from complying with an immigration detainer unless the person arrested was charged with, or has been previously convicted of, a serious or violent felony. Unfortunately, the list of offenses codified in the bill is fatally flawed because it omits many serious crimes. For example, the bill would bar local cooperation even when the person arrested has been convicted of certain crimes involving child abuse, drug trafficking, selling weapons, using children to sell drugs, or gangs. I believe it's unwise to interfere with a sheriff's discretion to comply with a detainer issued for people with these kinds of troubling criminal records.” The California State Sheriff's Association couldn’t agree more. They said state and local agencies cannot pick and choose which laws to enforce and said S-Comm only focuses on serious felony and repeat offenders. One of the bill’s leading opponents, Curtis Hill, legislative representative for the State Sheriff’s association said the TRUST Act would have placed undue burden on deputies in the field. "So is he (the deputy) following federal law? Or is he applying the California law?" Bill AB1081 passed the state Assembly by a 47-26 vote; the Senate passed the legislation on a 21-13 Democrat party line vote and was vetoed late Sunday night by Governor Brown. Previous story: http://www.examiner.com/article/father-of-murdered-son-urges-ca-governor-to-veto-trust-act For more stories: http://www.examiner.com/homeland-security-in-national/kimberly-dvorak © Copyright 2012 Kimberly Dvorak All Rights Reserved.