California offers some of the broadest protections and rights to undocumented immigrants in the country, and the California Values Act, which went into effect Jan. 1, makes those protections even stronger.
Indeed, the law – also known as SB 54, or the sanctuary state law – will have a significant impact, particularly for certain people. It will also eventually shed light on the way local law enforcement interacts with federal agencies, like Border Patrol, the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
But particularly in San Diego County, where there are high concentrations of federal law enforcement and numerous joint local and federal operations and task forces intended to tackle border-related crimes, it’s still unclear just how far the new protections extend.