Judge blocks 1 California sanctuary law, allows 2 others
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California can limit police co-operation with immigration officials and require inspections of detention facilities but can’t enforce a key part of a third state sanctuary law barring private employers from allowing immigration officials on their premises without a warrant, a U.S. judge ruled Thursday.
The decision came in a lawsuit filed against the state by the Trump administration seeking to block all three laws.
In an unusual move for a federal judge, John Mendez ended his opinion with pleas that it not be viewed through a “political lens,” and that Congress and the president set aside “the partisan and polarizing politics dominating the current immigration debate” to address the issue.
“There is no place for politics in our judicial system, and this one opinion will neither define nor solve the complicated immigration issues currently facing our nation,” Mendez, who was nominated to the federal bench by Republican President George W. Bush, wrote in his opinion dated July 4.