The City Council in Orange County’s second-smallest city is scheduled to vote Monday, March 19 on an ordinance that calls for exempting itself from the California Values Act, SB54, a new law that limits cooperation between law enforcement and immigration authorities.
The state law, which took effect Jan. 1, "may be in direct conflict with federal laws and the Constitution of the United States," reads the proposed local law.
Stating that council members have taken an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution, the ordinance says the council "finds that it is impossible to honor our oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States" and at the same time be in compliance with the new state law.
The proposed ordinance might be the first local attempt in California to officially challenge the law, said Kathleen Kim, a Loyola Marymount University law professor who specializes in immigrants’ rights and human trafficking.
The proposed ordinance contains "flawed argument," Kim said Friday, March 16. The new state law is "absolutely consistent with the U.S. Constitution," she said.
Annie Lai, co-director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at UC Irvine, said Los Alamitos is inviting a lawsuit if the ordinance is adopted.
"It looks like they’re setting themselves up for litigation," she said.