Los Angeles City Council Votes on TRUST Act

National Day Laborer Organizing Network Statement

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LOS ANGELES –The Los Angeles City Council votes on the TRUST Act today following incorrect claims made earlier this week by some sheriffs that the measure conflicts with federal law.

Chris Newman, Legal Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), released the following statement:

“Sherriff Lee Baca’s profound misunderstanding of the law and his unwillingness to join the rest of us in an earnest policy discussion is proof of the need for the TRUST Act.”

Press release on letter from law professors and deans to Gov. Brown refuting sheriffs’ claims below

Prominent Law Professors and Deans Endorse TRUST Act,
Refute Some Sheriffs’ Incorrect Claims that Measure Conflicts with Federal Law
Support for Legislation Reaches Critical Mass as Key Law Enforcement Officials Back Bill to Limit Immigrant Detentions

SACRAMENTO – Support for the TRUST Act, the California legislation billed as the “Anti-Arizona” immigration policy, continues to grow across a broad coalition urging California Gov. Jerry Brown to sign the bill into law.

Top law professors from around the country issued a letter to Gov. Brown today supporting the legislation and refuting the principal argument against the TRUST Act(AB 1081 – Ammiano). The letter, signed by 31 professors, explains that federal requests to local law enforcement officials to detain undocumented immigrants for additional time are not orders carrying the force of law, as some sheriffs have claimed. In fact, the Professors explain, these “hold” requests are completely optional, and California’s effort to limit them is entirely within its power. Pledges made by some Sheriffs to defy the legislation if it is signed into law have no legal basis.

Meanwhile, two crucial new law enforcement leaders endorsed the legislation this week, including a past President of the State Sheriff’s Association. The endorsement highlights divisions within the Association, the sole entity which has registered opposition to the bill. The division emerged as a wide coalition continues to grow in support of the bill.

The TRUST Act has captured national attention. It would rebuild community confidence in law enforcement – and save local resources – by limiting unfair detentions for deportation purposes in local jails often caused by the federal government’s “Secure Communities” deportation program.

Key points made to the Governor in the law professors’ letter include:

• The primary opposition argument against the TRUST Act - that immigration detainers are mandatory orders - is without merit
• Immigration detainers raise Due Process and Fourth Amendment concerns
• The TRUST Act would support Equal Protection guarantees under the Constitution.

While the California State Sheriffs’ Association remains opposed, letters of support from individual law enforcement leaders have poured into the Governor’s office this week, including from Santa Clara County Sherriff Laurie Smith and San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr. (They join Oakland Police Chief Jordan and Palo Alto Police Burns.) Other new supporters of the measure include the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus; the California Legislative Black Caucus; the Califomia Latino Legislative Caucus, and the California Legislative Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Caucus, who sent a joint letter to the Governor earlier this week.

Under the TRUST Act, local law enforcement would have clear guidelines on when not to submit to immigration hold requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), while allowing holds for those convicted or charged with serious or violent felonies. Cook County and Chicago have far more expansive legislation already in place.

In California alone, nearly 80,000 immigrants have been deported since the program’s inception. As of July 2012, cumulative data shows that 69 percent of deportations were of people not convicted of a crime or convicted of only minor offenses, including traffic violations, selling food without a permit, and others. A recent report showed that California spends $65 million annually to participate in the program.

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Legal Analysis of immigration detainers and the constitutionality of their enforcement:

"Administrative detainers are unsupported by sworn evidence or probable cause, and they are not reviewed by a neutral magistrate. Local detention based solely on a detainer from ICE is no more jusitfied under the law than detention based on a postcard from ICE."
- Michael J. Wishnie, William O. Douglas Clinical Professor of Law at Yale Law School.

"Without the TRUST Act, individual local police will, in practical effect, be entrusted with the discretion to make federal immigration policy on the ground by deciding who is arrested and brought into contact with the federal immigration enforcement system. Federal prosecutorial discretion can only have a limited effect in detecting and eliminating any racial and ethnic profiling that occurs in the initial arrest context."
- Hiroshi Motomura, Susan Westerberg Prager Professor of Law at UCLA Law School.

"DHS has made it mandatory that all counties participate in Secure Communities by sharing fingerprint information, but the requests for ICE holds have never been mandatory and are just that, requests."
- Allison Davenport, Clinical Instructor & Lecturer International Human Rights Law Clinic University of California, Berkeley School of Law

"On the Road to Justice, Ni un Paso Atrás  (Not One Step Back)"

Day Laborers From  Across Nation Arrive in Los Angeles to discuss future  -
Multiple media opportunities, including "A Better Life" screening w/ Chris Weitz

What: Sixth National Assembly of Day Laborers convened by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network

When: February 19 - February 23rd, 2012

Where: Sheraton Downtown, 711 S. Hope St. Los Angeles, CA. 90017

Tonight: Director Chris Weitz and Actor Jose Julian to screen the Oscar-recognized film, A Better Life with day laborer audience.

View the Assembly Program Here

(02.20.2012 Los Angeles, CA) Hundreds of immigrant day laborers from 15 different states arrived in Los Angeles last night for the 10th anniversary of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, a national federation of 43 organizations working to advance the rights of immigrant workers.
 

Tom Saenz, President of MALDEF, will give the opening keynote this morning at 9:00am.  Throughout the assembly, day laborers from across the country will gather to take stock of their accomplishments from the past two years; fighting against Arizona and Georgia's anti-immigrant laws, leading the charge against the dangerous "Secure Communities" deportation program, expanding efforts to end wage theft and unsafe workplaces, among other things.  During the summit  in Los Angeles, day laborers will reflect upon the challenges ahead and set forth an affirmative agenda for the coming year.
 

This will be the first time the assembly is held in Los Angeles, home to the largest population of day laborers and the longest-running workers' centers in the country. 

“Like all migrants, day laborers have been under seige in recent years,” explains NDLON Director Pablo Alvarado. “Yet, when day laborers defend against attacks on our rights and our dignity, we advance the rights for all people in the United States.  This year we will be far more assertive in our efforts to advance the rights of working migrants, and our assembly will create a roadmap for our collective work.”
 

The first day will close with a screening of the Oscar-recognized film A Better Life where Demian Bichir portrays a Los Angeles day laborer striving to provide for his son, played by Jose Julian.  Julian and Director Chris Weitz will be in attendance for a post-film discussion with day laborers themselves. 
 

Commenting on the film, Marco Loera explains, “At a time when today's public discussion about immigrant families has become filled with toxic scapegoating, movies like A Better Life are more important than ever. Chris Weitz's film offers a fresh way to change the conversation and stop the hate. The movie rises above the scapegoating and shows a family struggling to make it, something we all can relate to. The fact that Demian Bichir is nominated for best actor should make politicians think twice. Those who have gone as unsung heroes in our communities for years may now be getting their rightful praise on the silver screen. And with it, an audience of Americans who are ready to embrace and not attack immigrant workers.”

Various media events are planned throughout the weeklong convention.  

View the Assembly Program Here

Conference Media Events

 Monday 2/20

Tuesday 2/21

Wednesday 2/22

Thursday 2/23

NDLON's mission is to strengthen and expand the work of local day laborer organizing groups, in order to become more effective and strategic in building leadership, advancing low-wage worker and immigrant rights, and developing successful models for organizing immigrant contingent/temporary workers.  NDLON fosters healthy, safer and more humane environments for day laborers to obtain employment and raise their families. In this sense, NDLON advances the human, labor, and civil rights of day workers throughout the United States.

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On the Road to Justice, Ni un Paso Atras (Not One Step Backward)
Historic National Assembly of Day Laborers Begins Sunday
in Los Angeles

What: Sixth National Assembly of Day Laborers convened by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network
When: February 19 - February 23rd, 2012
Where: Sheraton Downtown, 711 S. Hope St. Los Angeles, CA. 90017
View the Assembly Program Here

Misplaced Priorities