Trump’s About to Give Sanctuary State California a Cold Dose of Reality

With much hullabaloo, the Democrat-controlled California state legislature passed a law this year that makes their state the first in the union to declare itself a full-on “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants. Signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, the bill aims to protect aliens by preventing local law enforcement officials from cooperating with federal authorities, even when they have an illegal immigrant in custody. The Democrats have proudly embraced California’s “Sanctuary State” status, insisting to the citizens that this policy somehow makes life safer for them. How they arrive at that conclusion is anyone’s guess, but it’s usually best to avoid delving too deeply into the logic of liberals. That way lies madness.

What California Democrats don’t get is that “resistance,” by its very nature, only leads to increased hostility on the other side. And when the “other side” is the federal government, well, that’s probably a fight you don’t want to pick unless you’re very certain that you’re in the right. And since federal law, common sense, and the longstanding borders of the United States are all on the side of the Trump administration, it’s hard to find any way to characterize California’s position as “right.” Nevertheless, they’re digging their heels in, and now they’ve angered federal authorities.

So it is that we come to this story in the San Francisco Chronicle:

U.S. immigration officials have begun preparing for a major sweep in San Francisco and other Northern California cities in which federal officers would look to arrest more than 1,500 undocumented people while sending a message that immigration policy will be enforced in the sanctuary state, according to a source familiar with the operation.

Officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, declined to comment Tuesday on plans for the operation.

The campaign, centered in the Bay Area, could happen within weeks, and is expected to become the biggest enforcement action of its kind under President Trump, said the source, who requested anonymity because the plans have not been made public.

See, what often goes unsaid in the debate over sanctuary laws is that the federal government doesn’t really need the assistance of local Democrats to get the job done. Yes, it’s nice to have police who will abide by detention requests, but it’s not altogether necessary. ICE is fully trained, outfitted, and equipped to go into any town in America and start making arrests. And with Donald Trump in the White House (and a significant point to prove about the futility of left-wing pushback), ICE has the will and the freedom to do so.

So California, a sanctuary state you may be. But Trump is about to prove that, as long as he’s calling the shots, there is no safe place for illegal immigrants in the United States.