NDLON in the News

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Mistrust in California – NYTimes.com

Gov. Jerry Brown of California dropped the ball on Sunday when he vetoed the Trust Act, a bill aimed at keeping harmless immigrants out of the deportation dragnet — not out of misguided compassion, order but to bolster public safety. The police in immigrant communities depend on the cooperation of witnesses and victims; when local officers become federal immigration deputies, fear overrides trust and crime festers. Mr. Brown’s late-night veto bitterly disappointed immigrant advocates, law-enforcement officials, religious leaders and others who had urged him to take a stand against pressure from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is deporting people at a blistering pace and wants to keep doing so. The agency’s Se Communities program has turned local police into handmaidens of federal immigration policy; people arrested are automatically subjected to immigration checks, leading to the deportations of tens of thousands who have no criminal records or are only minor offenders.

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Jerry Brown disappoints – laopinion.com

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.

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Brown misses opportunity with TRUST Act

Gov. Jerry Brown signed a new law that will allow hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses and vetoed another that would have restricted sheriffs from helping federal authorities detain undocumented Californians for potential deportation. His actions, announced Sunday as the deadline neared to finish work on nearly 1,000 bills sent to him by the Legislature this year, followed an intense week of protests, prayer vigils and lobbying by immigrant advocacy groups. The governor also revived a tax break for Hollywood, allowed juvenile killers serving life in prison a chance for release and outlawed intended to turn gay children straight. The laws take effect Jan. 1. The immigration bills sparked the most controversy.

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Calif. gov. OKs driver licenses for illegal immigrants, rejects ‘anti-Arizona’ legislation – The Washington Post

Meanwhile, Brown vetoed AB1081, which could have protected illegal immigrants from deportation if they committed minor infractions. The bill has been dubbed “anti-Arizona” legislation, a reference to that state’s immigrant identification law. The so-called Trust Act would have let California opt out of some parts of a federal program that requires local law enforcement officers to check the fingerprints of people they arrest against a federal immigration database and hold those who are in the country illegally. It would have barred local law enforcement officers from detaining suspects for possible deportation unless they are charged with serious or violent felonies.

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TRUST Act Vetoed: California Gov. Jerry Brown Calls Limits On Immigration Enforcement ‘Flawed’

California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill late Sunday to make California the “anti-Arizona” on immigration enforcement, after a long fight that took the bill into the national spotlight as a possible rebuke to a program the Obama administration has made key to its effort to remove undocumented immigrants. Brown did not announce his decision on the bill until close to midnight, Pacific time, as part of a spate of bills — including one he did sign to allow driver licenses for some young undocumented immigrants — that Brown needed to address before the end of September. Even a few hours before, advocates weren’t sure which way it would go, but in the end Brown ruled it “fatally flawed.” The TRUST Act, which was originally introduced by state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, would have limited the state’s law enforcement’s interactions with federal immigration enforcement efforts. It specifically would have restricted California’s cooperation in the Se Communities program

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Day Laborers Denounce Governor Brown’s Veto of TRUST Act, Pledge to Continue Fighting President’s Se Communities Mass Deportation Program

Los Angeles – September 29, 2012.In response to Governor Brown’s veto of the TRUST Act (AB 1081), Pablo Alvarado, executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network issued the following statement:   “By vetoing the TRUST Act Governor Brown has failed California’s immigrant communities, imperiling civil rights and leaving us all less safe. The President’s…

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