Guest Blog by Chuck Uribe
California Senate Bill 48: One Californian’s Thoughts
California Senate Bill 48 (Immigration Enforcement: School Sites) seeks to restrict the enforcement activities of United States federal immigration enforcement agencies from operating in or around California’s public schools, charter schools, etc.
As with so many other such attempts at legislation (not just in California, certainly), this bill also includes several provisions which deviate from the stated objectives of the title of the bill.
This legislation actually protects and strengthens local and federal law enforcement agencies’ efforts to fight immigration-related crimes.
A first glance at the bill certainly champions the California Senate’s position to ‘resist’ whatever may transpire with the election of Donald J. Trump to the presidency of the United States of America.
While there seems to be the requisite fist-pumping, there also seems to be well-intentioned attention brought to bear upon the potential increase of absenteeism among those California public school students who are transported to and from school, by way of family members who may be undocumented.
While an internet search documenting federal immigration enforcement activities in/around California’s public schools reveals relatively few examples of this kind of enforcement activity (the latest example having been documented in the early 2000s – Irvine Teachers Association: 2019/06), it seems as if the California State Senator who originally crafted the bill suddenly realized that the bill, as presented in the original draft, would have created a ‘perfect storm’ of criminality which would have quite effectively victimized entire neighborhoods in and around California’s public schools (i.e., the whole, ‘one mile’ restriction for federal, local, and state law enforcement agencies).
Evidence of this epiphany seems to have taken the form of the bill’s Section 3, which seeks to amend California’s Government Code Section 7284.6 (a) 4 g, which reads: ‘Nothing in this section shall prohibit a California law enforcement agency from asserting its own jurisdiction over criminal law enforcement matters.’ (SB 48, 2024).
Additional provisions address ‘joint law enforcement task force’ operations (seemingly streamlining and standardizing reporting and other administrative matters), as well as providing clarification for (and protections relative to) immigration enforcement operations related to human trafficking investigations.
Note: SB 48 was sponsored by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, and introduced December 16, 2024 by Senator Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach). See her press release.
Chuck Uribe is a local educator who was elected to the Center Unified School District Board and the Sacramento County Republican Central Committee in 2024.