Local effort being made to designate California a ‘sanctuary state’
Local activists are urging residents to flood California State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson’s voicemail to persuade her into voting for a bill that would turn California into a sanctuary state.
Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) rounded up people to be a part of an emergency phone bank at its Santa Barbara headquarters Thursday afternoon.
“How do we make sure we don’t take away breadwinners, fathers, mothers and separating them from their children and they’re not going to see each other for a very long time?” said Frank Rodriguez, a community organizer for CAUSE.
Callers reached out to local residents and asked them to support SB54 which is the California Values Act. If residents wanted to help, callers would then give them Senator Jackson’s office phone number.
“It would limit the way ICE immigration customs enforcement interacts with our county, municipal, state information. such as our county jails and court systems. we’ve heard a lot of fear in our within our immigrant community here in Santa Barbara especially.”
Reporter Vicky Nguyen reached out to the Santa Barbara County Republican Party for a comment.
“Santa Barbara County Republican Party supports taking tangible steps toward fixing a broken immigration policy. We do not agree that SB 54 is a reasonable solution. SB 54 restricts local law enforcement in their abilities to fully execute their duties which could result in putting American citizens at risk. This bill could also seriously jeopardize the state of California’s eligibility for federal funding. SB 54 does nothing to solve any problems; it creates problems. We encourage our public officials to do their job and work toward improving a system that has been broken for decades,” said Phebe Mansur, from the Santa Barbara County Republican Party.
