California isn’t a monolith. The behemoth state tends to vote liberal but there are pockets of conservatism. The illegal immigration debate is creating even greater divides.
A lot of residents agree with the governor’s decision to turn the entire state into a sanctuary for illegals. Others, however, are starting to fight back. Multiple California municipalities openly reject sanctuary ideals.
Last month the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against California. Local governments are debating supporting the federal government or state law. The Board of Supervisors in Orange County, for instance, publicly threw its support behind Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
It’s easy to support illegal immigration when your city isn’t being overrun by migrants.
“When the attorney general of the United States decides to take a firm position against it, I think that gave a signal to a lot of us that, ‘Hey, California is on the wrong side of this thing,'” said Fred Whitaker, chairman of the Republican Party in Orange County.
According to the Sacramento Bee, more locations are considering joining Orange County. A lot of residents are deeply unhappy with the way the state is handling immigration. Escondido, a San Francisco neighborhood, has already voted to stand behind the federal lawsuit.
“Politics is very much about emotions, especially in midterms,” Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles, said.
“I think it was only a matter of time when people went back to the issue that actually hits the nerve in the Republican base these days more than any other.”
Democrats have run rampant in California. They’ve created multiple laws intended to make life easier for illegal immigrants. The state openly flouts federal immigration law.
If the Justice Department’s lawsuit is successful, California lawmakers will have no choice but to roll back the state’s sanctuary policies.
(Source: Sacremento Bee)