Governor Jerry Brown’s veto of the TRUST Act means political considerations triumphed over protecting California’s immigrant community from the arbitrary enforcement of federal law. The enactment of the state law would have probably led to a confrontation in court with the Justice Department, since it established state regulation of a federal program, Se Communities. The governor apparently did not understand that this was a fair battle, one worth fighting. From the beginning, the federal program-intended to detain and deport dangerous undocumented immigrants-was disorganized and confusing about aspects of its implementation and rules establishing the duties and responsibilities of cities, counties and states. The situation worsened when some law enforcement agencies interpreted the program strictly, contradicting the idea of focusing on the most dangerous individuals, and wasted time and resources on irrelevant cases.

Read more http://www.laopinion.com/article/20121002/IMPORT01/310029995

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