THE BUZZ: TRUMP-PRIMING — President-elect Donald Trump says he wants to deport immigrants en masse, and some California officials are ready to help. Republican sheriffs, city councils and district attorneys are preparing to test or even break California’s chief immigration law, Senate Bill 54, which passed in 2017 and was signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown to limit state and local law enforcement’s cooperation with the Trump administration. "I will do everything in my power to make sure I keep the residents of Riverside County safe," Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican who’s considering a run for governor, told Fox 11 Los Angeles. "If that involves working somehow around SB 54 with ICE so we can deport these people victimizing us and our residents, you can be 100 percent sure I'm going to do that." The conservative resistance to statewide Democratic policy underscores Republicans’ emboldened stance on immigration following Trump’s victory in November. Their promised test of state law also may muddle the legal landscape around the issue as a seemingly better organized Trump White House prepares to wage a court war against California and its progressive officials. The Republicans offer a potentially powerful alliance with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, who has told Democrats to “get the hell out of the way” of federal enforcement. El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells, a Republican fresh off an unsuccessful run for Congress in east San Diego County, told Playbook he recently met with Homan to discuss the “conflicting requests” between SB 54 and Trump’s agenda. Wells is also pushing a city council resolution declaring the 100,000-resident city’s intent to assist federal immigration authorities “to the maximum legal extent.” Wells predicted a challenge to California immigration law will reach the conservative U.S. Supreme Court during Trump’s second term.
“In my discussions with Mr. Homan,” Wells said, “I suggested … that the federal government should use the power of the purse to punish California by cutting off funding for transportation or health and human services or whatever they want to do to make California comply. Because I think it's outrageous that California is trying to supersede federal law.”
Other officials in conservative areas are preparing for the possibility that court fights will reshape state law and empower them to aid ICE in more cases. SB 54 bars them from arresting immigrants due to ICE holds and taking several other steps to assist border patrol operations. The fights over how and whether to work with Trump’s team are already creating serious political fallout. In San Diego County, the board of supervisors directed county agencies not to help federal authorities with raids and other enforcement — going much further than the state.
Already, County Sheriff Kelly Martinez has defied the order, saying her department is independent of the board. County Supervisor Nora Vargas, a Democrat and the board chair who introduced the proposal, left office amid backlash, citing “personal safety and security reasons.” “State law allows the sharing of certain information with ICE about persons who are in the custody of the Sheriff,” Martinez said in a statement in which she also vowed to follow state law. “We will continue to do that, for the permittable convictions which include many serious crimes, such as murder, rape, domestic violence, drug trafficking, etc.” GOOD MORNING. Happy Thursday. Thanks for waking up with Playbook. You can text us at 916-562-0685 — save it as “CA Playbook” in your contacts. Or drop us a line at dgardiner@politico.com and bjones@politico.com, or on X — @DustinGardiner and @jonesblakej. WHERE’S GAVIN? In Los Angeles, working with emergency officials responding to the fires. PUT ON YOUR TOOLBELT — Newsom this morning issued an executive order suspending environmental rules for Angelenos re-constructing accessory dwelling units (known as mother-in-law suites) on properties destroyed by the fires. The order covers all of Los Angeles County and also directs state agencies to help local governments map out temporary housing plans for people displaced by the disaster. The directive extends a price gouging ban on hotels and rental housing to March 8, too.
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