SANTA ANA, Calif. — In a dramatic one-two punch, leaders in California’s Orange County voted Tuesday to condemn the state’s sanctuary law that limits police cooperation with federal immigration authorities and to join a Trump administration lawsuit that seeks to overturn it.
The all-Republican Board of Supervisors in the county that is home to 3.2 million people and many immigrants approved the measures by unanimous votes. One of the five supervisors was absent.
The meeting produced a raucous debate between those who say the moves uphold the rule of law and draw a line on illegal immigration and others who said it was racist and more about politics than public safety.
Supervisor Michelle Steel, an immigrant from South Korea, told the crowd that fixing the country’s immigration system will take time. “Along the way, law enforcement should absolutely cooperate fully within the constraints of federal law,” she said.
The votes were the most dramatic development in a growing counter-movement in more conservative-leaning areas of the state against the sanctuary law, which the Democrat-controlled Legislature approved last year as the Trump administration called for more stringent immigration enforcement and a wall on the entirety of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The U.S. Justice Department headed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions sued California earlier this month over three pro-immigrant state laws, including the one that bars local law enforcement officials in many cases from turning over prisoners to immigration authorities.
The lawsuit has highlighted longstanding divisions over immigration in California. For years, some local governments have sought to help federal immigration agents pick up prisoners from their jails to prevent them from being released back into their communities, while others have tried to keep their distance to encourage immigrant residents to trust police enough to come forward to report crimes.
In Orange County, the small city of Los Alamitos recently approved an ordinance to exempt itself from the state’s sanctuary law while leaders in the county seat of Santa Ana — a self-declared immigrant sanctuary — will consider filing an amicus brief to support California in federal court.
Legal experts and immigrant advocates have said cities can’t simply opt out of state law as Los Alamitos has proposed doing, and will face lawsuits if they try.
Orange County, which is home to Disneyland and wealthy beach communities where many people vacation, has long been known as a GOP stronghold, but Democrats have gained significant ground in recent years. Hillary Clinton won more votes than Trump in the county in the 2016 election.