California keeps protections for illegal immigrant sex offenders

A California bill that would have removed state sanctuary protections from illegal immigrant sex offenders was voted down Tuesday.

All Democrat legislators in California’s General Assembly unanimously voted no on AB 2641. The legislation would have required local law enforcement to turn an illegal alien over to immigration authorities if he or she committed a sex crime.

What is the current law?

Currently, under California’s sanctuary state law, law enforcement is prohibited from fully cooperating with immigration authorities. A California police officer cannot, for example, ask a person’s immigration status or detain an illegal immigrant at the request of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials. If an illegal immigrant has been jailed or incarcerated for a crime, California law enforcement officials are forbidden from providing ICE authorities with the migrant’s release date.

How would things have been different?

The bill voted down yesterday would strip such protections from any illegal immigrant who is convicted of sexual abuse or crimes against minors:

[T]his bill would instead require law enforcement officials to cooperate with immigration authorities by detaining and transferring an individual and providing release information if a person has been convicted of a crime of sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of minors, or crimes committed against minors, as specified, or crimes committed against a minor that require registration under the Sex Offender Registration Act. By requiring local law enforcement to comply with requests from immigration authorities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Why was the bill introduced?

California Assemblyman Bill Essayli was inspired to introduce the legislation after learning that an illegal Columbian pedophile was set free in California instead of being turned over to ICE.

In 2021, a 23-year-old Colombian man entered the United States illegally through California. He traveled upstate to San Bernardino, where he was convicted of having sexual intercourse with a child more than three years younger than himself and “oral copulation of a person under 18.” He was sentenced to four years in prison, but released after 15 months by San Bernardino County. 

When ICE officers asked prison authorities for the pedophile’s release date, the prison refused to provide it due to the state's sanctuary laws protecting illegal immigrants. ICE officials caught up with the Colombian national in Boston last month and apprehended him.

“On an unknown date, the noncitizen sex offender from California was released from state custody,” said ICE in a press release after the apprehension. “Regarding this matter, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office was hampered in its ability to assist in the case, due to California state law limiting local law enforcement cooperation with ICE.”