California Gov. Jerry Brown is doing his part to cut down on deportations, signing into law Monday a new measure intended to reduce deportations of legal immigrants convicted of misdemeanors.
SB 1310 limits deportations of noncitizens here legally who have been sentenced with misdemeanors by lowering the maximum possible sentence for a misdemeanor by one day to 364 days, thus falling just under the federal definition of a felony (any crime punishable by 365 days or more).
Federal immigration law allows a judge to deport legal immigrants who have committed what falls under the federal definition of a felony. Now many of the crimes in California that would have met that definition have been taken off the table.
California’s new law is expected to affect thousands of California legal immigrant residents. The LA Times reports that an immigrants' rights organization has calculated that 10% of all deportees each year are legal permanent residents and 68% of those deportations are for "minor, nonviolent crimes."
Though supporters of the law argue that it is simply stopping deportations for “minor crimes,” critics like Sen. Mark Wyland (R-Escondido) and Assemblyman Steve Fox (D-Palmdale), disagree, poing out that the law protects even those guilty of serious crimes like child neglect, identity theft, cruelty to animals, and repeat drunk-driving convictions.
"Too many criminals aren't serving their full sentences now," said Assemblyman Fox said. "I wanted judges to have all options available for the worst repeat offenders."
California’s SB 1310 follows the lead of similar legislation in Washington and Nevada. The state-level push to reduce deportations aligns with calls from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, most vocally Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), as well as other Democratic leaders like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who is now calling for asylum protection procedures to be extended to Mexican immigrants.
Last week, President Obama promised the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that later in the year his use of executive actions will be “as great and big and bold as he can be” to reduce deportations even more.
