San Jacinto comes out against state sanctuary law

San Jacinto has become the latest Inland city to come out against the sanctuary state law.

The City Council voted 3-1 Tuesday, May 1 to approve a resolution against the law, which provides protections for undocumented immigrants. Crystal Ruiz, Andrew Kotyuk and Russ Utz were in favor and Alonso Ledezma was against. Scott Miller was absent.

The majority also voted to file a brief as part of the U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit against the law — but only if someone else pays for it, as an organization has said it would.

The meeting at the San Jacinto School District office didn’t draw the large crowd other cities have seen when they have discussed the issue. Thirteen people spoke — eight who are against the law and five who favor it.

Kotyuk, a candidate for state Assembly, has been organizing anti-SB54 rallies in the region and put out a call for people to attend Tuesday. Some who spoke have also addressed councils in other cities.

OPPOSE SANCTUARY STATE Tuesday, May 1st | SB 54 PUBLIC SAFETY ALERT – San Jacinto – https://t.co/z2n6k32y9Z pic.twitter.com/0zh7719GZ2

— Andrew Kotyuk (@Kotyuk4Assembly) April 29, 2018

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SB 54,  the California Values Act, aims to shield undocumented immigrants from deportation, putting new limits on state and local law enforcement’s ability to help the federal government enforce immigration law.

Opponents are concerned that undocumented immigrants who commit crimes will be returned to their cities instead of being deported.

Ultimately, the decision came down to public safety.

“This is not about sanctuary baloney,” Ruiz said, “Don’t get mixed up in the politics, this is about protecting your children.”

In December, Ledezma asked that the city declare sanctuary status protecting undocumented residents during a discussion on an anti-sanctuary agenda item placed by Kotyuk. But it was ultimately decided to neither declare for or against such a designation and to never speak of the issue again.

The San Jacinto Unified School District declared itself a “Safe Haven” for undocumented students and their families in January 2017 and reaffirmed the vow at the start of the school year in August.

The policy protects the records of all students and makes sure children from immigrant families can’t be punished due to their residency status.

A number of California cities have come out against the sanctuary city law, either through a resolution denouncing it or by joining a lawsuit trying to get it overturned.

Those include Beaumont, Lake Elsinore, Wildomar, Yucaipa and Upland.

Riverside and Hemet plan to look into the issue soon.

Assemblyman Travis Allen, a Republican candidate for governor, announced Friday that he’s collected more than 35,000 signatures from people across California who want their communities to “opt out” of the state’s sanctuary law.

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