Immigrant Rights in California
The VISION Act would improve California’s historic sanctuary law
On May 11, 2020, a broad coalition of California groups will hold their annual Immigrant Day of Action. For 20 years, the California immigrant rights movement has come together annually at the California state capitol for a day of advocacy to support the rights of the immigrant community.
This year’s day of action will be remote. Organizations up and down the state are building the organizational infrastructure and educating people on how to organize and lobby remotely. This is important because the critical work can continue, but also because it is empowering and training people to organize online to make sure their voices are still heard loud and clear.
This year’s focus will be on a number of good legislative proposals supporting the immigrant community. One, of particular importance, is the VISION Act.
Better Protections for the Immigrant Community
The VISION Act (Assembly Bill 2596) would improve on the 2017 California Values Act, which imposed limits on law enforcement collaboration with ICE deportation efforts.
The CA Values Act (SB 54) was signed into law on Oct. 5, 2017, and went into effect on Jan. 1, 2018. Authored by then Pro Tem Senator Kevin de Leon, it restricted the use of state and local resources from engaging in deportations and created safe spaces for immigrants at schools, health facilities, and courthouses.
The 2017 Values Act was supported by a broad coalition of more than 80 groups, including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund; ACLU; the National Immigration Law Center; SEIU California; UNITE HERE; California Federation of Teachers (CFT); Children’s Defense Fund-CA; and more.
While the 2017 Values Act is the strongest Sanctuary proposal in the U.S. experience has shown that it includes too many exceptions that allow police departments to continue their collaboration and data sharing with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). These police “workarounds” include publishing release dates of people in incarceration, allowing ICE into jails to conduct transfers, giving ICE office space for ICE, and more.
In response, many groups in the coalition listed above are have come together again to support The VISION Act to close the loopholes.
What is the VISION Act?
The VISION Act — Voiding Inequality and Seeking Inclusion for Our Immigrant Neighbors Act (AB 2596) builds on the 2017 California Values Act. It would close the loopholes in the 2017 Values Act to better protect the immigrant community.
The VISION Act contains the following provisions:
- Prohibits holding, transferring, or notifying ICE of individuals who are incarcerated for an offense committed at age 25 or younger.
- Prohibits parole agents from coordinating with ICE to conduct immigration arrests
- Prohibits asking if individuals are “foreign-born” to place an ICE hold request.
- Ends “carve-outs” in the 2017 Values Act that allowed notifications and transfers to continue between California jails and ICE
- Defines what a “transfer” in CA jails is to prevent ongoing coordination with ICE.
California is leading the way in expanding immigrant rights. There is still a long way to go, and every Bill is a compromise, but significant progress has been made. Those involved should be congratulated for the many significant successes they have already won.
You can support this year’s May 11th California Immigrant Day of Action by contacting your California State Representative and asking them to co-sponsor and vote for AB 2596 in this legislative session.
Let’s show that even while socially distancing, we can still be socially active.
