By admin Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday he had signed more than 20 bills meant to protect immigrants in the state and push back against the controversial enforcement actions driven by President Donald Trump.
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But there was a notable measure not on the list.
Assembly Bill 1896 would impose a sweeping punishment for former federal immigration officers looking to work in California. It aims to disqualify people involved in immigration enforcement — including as a contractor — from being hired by a police or sheriff department unless they are approved to go through a state basic training course.
The bill, called the GTFO Act, for “Get the Feds Out,” goes even further. It would also make former immigration officers ineligible to hold other city and county jobs.
The measure is a direct response to Trump’s effort to rapidly increase deportations across the country by conducting more aggressive operations, some of which have resulted in officers killing or seriously injuring protestors and people they were trying to detain. Its authors Assemblymember Mark González, D-Los Angeles, and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, say the bill is about sending a message to those who decide to follow the Trump administration’s orders: They are not above the law and have no right to serve people in the state.
The administration tried to enhance its enforcement surge through a hiring spree that offered signing bonuses, student loan payments and other incentives, but has raised concerns that federal officials were lowering standards to rapidly fills its ranks.
When asked about the pending bill, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in emailed statement: “California sanctuary politicians are casting federal law enforcement as villains while ICE officers are being targeted, threatened and doxxed simply for doing their jobs,” referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. “They should be grateful that ICE officers stepped up to keep criminal illegal aliens off of California’s streets.”
Spokespeople for González and Rivas did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lack of signature Tuesday. Rivas’ office celebrated the bills the governor signed in a news release, but did not mention AB 1896.
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The measure would require everyone wanting to be a police officer or enroll in the state basic training course to submit a signed document disclosing whether they have previously been involved in immigration enforcement. Lying on that form would be considered perjury.
The fate of the bill is not yet certain, but Newsom only has until the end of the Wednesday to sign or veto it. Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a Governor’s Office spokesperson, declined to comment on whether Newsom was planning to veto the measure.
The governor also has yet to act on Senate Bill 938, which would not allow former immigration and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers from using their experience to seek waivers from a state basic training course.
Newsom, in a statement about the bills he signed Tuesday, said: “We will continue protecting our people, upholding the rule of law, and making clear that if the federal government operates in California, we will hold them accountable,”
One of those measures, Assembly Bill 1627, would not go as far as the bill backed by González and Rivas. It specifies that anyone who engaged in “serious misconduct” or had their law enforcement certification revoked while conducting immigration enforcement operations would be disqualified from working as a police officer or sheriff’s deputy.
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