Immigrants selling food, flowers and other goods along California sidewalks will have new privacy protections aimed at keeping their identities secret from federal immigration officials.
The bill was signed into law by Democrats last week. Governor Gavin NewsomThe enactment follows other recently enacted state laws aimed at protecting students in schools and patients in health care facilities from the reach of President Donald Trump. Immigration control measures.
Democratic-led states Add laws to resist Trump Even as he intensifies his deportation campaign seeking: deploy the National Guard He sent them to Democratic-led cities to beef up U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who are arresting people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally.
By contrast, some Republican-led states require local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE agents.
“The states’ actions really reflect the country’s polarization on this issue,” said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy research at the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports immigration restrictions. “Some states are moving to cooperate as much as possible with the Trump administration, while others are doing everything in their power to block immigration enforcement within their states.”
State legislatures across the country have passed more than 100 immigration-related bills this year, according to an Associated Press analysis. invoice tracking software. The measures are almost evenly split between granting and denying protection to immigrants.
California is blocking immigration information
Immigrants make up a significant portion of California’s urban sidewalk vendors. Some people have been caught up in immigration crackdowns, in part because people working outdoors in public places are more likely to be targeted than those behind closed doors.
california street vendor Usually requires permission from the city or county. The new law prohibits local governments from inquiring about a vendor’s immigration status, requiring fingerprinting, or disclosing personal information (such as name, address, date of birth, social media identifiers or phone number, driver’s license or social security number) without a judicial subpoena.
The law, which goes into effect on January 1, was sparked by concerns that vendor databases kept by local governments could be accessed by federal immigration officials and subject people to detention or deportation.
“What we’re talking about is really security: security for businesses, security for people, security for people who have been through a lot,” said Sergio Jimenez, a street vendor organizer for the Los Angeles nonprofit Community Power Collective.
Additional legislation recently signed by Newsom adds immigration status to the list of protected health information and prohibits schools from giving immigration enforcement officers access without a court warrant. Another new law in California requires schools and institutions of higher education to immediately notify staff, students, or parents if: Immigration officers are on campus.
Democracies create safe spaces for immigrants
After taking office, President Trump reversed policies that restricted federal immigration agents from arresting people in sensitive areas, including: Schools, churches, hospitals. Like California, other Democratic-led states responded with laws seeking to create safe havens for immigrants.
A Maryland law enacted earlier this year requires public schools, libraries and health care facilities to restrict access to immigration enforcement officers unless a court warrant is filed. Nevada’s Republican governor vetoed a similar bill for schools passed by the Democratic-led Legislature.
Meanwhile, Colorado’s new law authorizes civil penalties of up to $50,000 against public child care centers, schools, universities, medical facilities, and libraries that collect information about people’s immigration status, with some exceptions. Rhode Island’s new law prohibits health care providers and landlords from inquiring about people’s immigration status. Oregon has enacted a similar law for landowners.
States are divided over support for federal immigration authorities
By contrast, Republican-led states have passed numerous laws aimed at toughening President Trump’s immigration policies.
New laws in Texas, Florida, and Arkansas require sheriffs who operate prisons to: enter into a federal agreement Train personnel to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. State and local participation in the federal 287(g) immigration enforcement program, named for the provision of the law that created the program, has exploded from 135 agreements in 21 states before President Trump took office in January, to more than 1,000 agreements in 40 states today.
However, some Democratic-led states have refused to participate. Delaware’s new law prohibits participation in the program, similar to laws already in place in California and Illinois. Democratic-led Vermont also tightened restrictions on participation in federal immigration enforcement programs and eliminated emergency exemptions.
A Connecticut law that went into effect in October allows the state to sue local governments that cooperate with federal immigration authorities in violation of the state’s “trust law.”
public interest becomes an issue
In Washington, a new state law allows workers to take paid leave to attend immigration proceedings for themselves or family members, and prohibits employers from using immigration status to coerce employees.
However, some Republican-led states have enacted laws that illegally restrict benefits to their citizens.
New law in idaho The law prohibits immigrants without legal status from receiving publicly funded health benefits such as vaccinations, crisis counseling, and prenatal and postnatal care for women. A new Louisiana law requires applicants for public benefits to be screened for legal immigration status and report ineligibility to federal immigration authorities.
Several Republican-led states have adopted legislation, including Florida, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Tennessee and Wyoming. Disable a specific driver’s license Issued to illegal immigrants in the United States.
University tuition discounts are on the decline
This year, nearly half of states offered in-state tuition at public universities to residents living in the U.S. illegally. But that number has declined since Trump took office and the U.S. Department of Justice took office. started suing the state. The federal lawsuit alleges that states violate the Constitution by offering in-state tuition to people without legal status while denying similar benefits to out-of-state U.S. citizens.
Florida repealed a 10-year-old law. In-state tuition Republican-led states Texas and Oklahoma both abolished similar tuition policies following lawsuits from the Justice Department. Kentucky, which has a Democratic governor, has also taken steps to halt the policy in response to the lawsuit.
California lawmakers sought to strengthen tuition benefits for immigrants in a first-of-its-kind measure that would allow community college students who are deported or leave the United States voluntarily to continue receiving in-state tuition while taking online courses remotely. But Newsom vetoed the measure earlier this month, citing “serious constitutional concerns” that tuition relief would only be available to students who went abroad and not to residents of other U.S. states.
A bill passed by New Mexico’s Democratic-led Legislature this year would extend in-state tuition waivers to immigrants who have earned income in New Mexico in the past two years or who have taken at least two semesters of adult education courses. However, Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham killed the bill without signing it.
