Civil unrest in Los Angeles over the weekend could have been avoided by passing his bill, California’s GOP leader Brian Jones said in a statement Monday.
According to a press release from the Santee minority leader’s office, passing Senate Bill 554 would have required local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities in the arrest of undocumented immigrants convicted of serious and violent felonies.
In April, the State Senate Standing Committee on Public Safety voted 5-1, along party lines, to strike down the bill.
Leader Jones said that the events over the weekend in downtown LA — where protesters skirmished with law enforcement and, according to the Los Angeles Times, vandalized businesses, the civic center and police cruisers, were “easily preventable.”
“Now the Feds have to run broader raids, like what we’re seeing in LA, which sweep up way more people,” Leader Jones said in the statement.
It’s unclear whether individuals detained in the immigration raids throughout Los Angeles Friday had any prior convictions for the serious and violent felonies that would have mandated local law enforcement agencies to collaborate with federal agencies.
Existing law, SB 54, gives local and state law enforcement agencies discretion over whether to participate with federal agents in deportation proceedings.
Jones said that does not go far enough.
“These raids can then lead to an increase in ‘collateral arrests,’ when additional illegal immigrants are unintentionally swept up in enforcement actions because violent offenders were not turned over in the first place,” the statement said.
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