By Adrian Florido
The California legislature has passed a bill prohibiting local law enforcement officers from detaining arrestees on behalf of federal immigration officials.
AB 1081, also known as the TRUST Act, passed the state assembly Friday and now goes to the governor for final approval.
It was written by San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano and designed to limit local law enforcement’s ability to hand arrestees over to federal agents for possible deportation.
The bill makes an exception for serious and violent criminals. But other than those, undocumented immigrants arrested for minor violations must be released after serving a sentence, being acquitted, posting bail or being found otherwise eligible for release.
Ammiano introduced the bill to distinguish California from states like Arizona, with its harsh anti-illegal immigration policies. Locally, the bill could affect the way the City of Escondido currently cooperates with immigration officials to deport undocumented immigrants.