A Latino civil rights organization filed a motion Thursday to intervene in a lawsuit brought on by the city of Huntington Beach that challenges California’s sanctuary law.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, also known as MALDEF, filed the motion to intervene as defendants on behalf of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON).
Attorneys argue that NDLON’s work would be compromised by the repeal of the California Values ​​Act (SB 54), the Huntington Beach law is challenging.
According to the motion, the loss of immigrant protections in California could “increase interactions between police and day laborers and other immigrants that end in deportations.”
The group also says it could make immigrants less likely to seek help from law enforcement or report crimes.
“California has chosen, through democratic processes, to ensure that peaceful, law-abiding immigrants can live without fear of local police complicity in violations of constitutional rights guaranteed to all persons, such as due process and equal protection,” said MALDEF President and General Counsel Thomas A. Saenz. “No city, acting on wholly unfounded stereotypes and biases, should threaten that state guarantee, or we risk creating a society with ongoing inter-community rifts and arbitrary government actions.”
In January, the Huntington Beach City Council passed an ordinance declaring itself a “non-sanctuary” city.
Mayor Pat Burns said the move would help law enforcement follow federal immigration protocols under the Trump administration.
“We need every law enforcement effort, whenever called upon, whether it be fighting terrorists, whether it be fighting purse snatchers, or whatever it is, we have to have every law enforcement tool to best serve our citizens,” Burns said at the time.
