Sacramento police vow not to engage in immigration enforcement despite Trump DOJ threats

Rosalio Ahumada, The Sacramento Bee on Jan 23, 2025

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento Police Department vowed not to engage in any immigration enforcement in accordance with California law two days after the Trump Administration threatened to prosecute local officials who don’t cooperate with federal immigration agents.

In a Jan. 10 community bulletin posted on the Police Department’s social media accounts, officials said their officers “will not be engaging in any immigration enforcement” as that would be a direct violation of department policy and state Senate Bill 54.

SB 54, also known as California’s “sanctuary state” law passed in October 2017, limits state and local law enforcement from using resources to assist in federal immigration enforcement. This sanctuary law prevents collaboration used in other states, but will not stop any potential arrests by federal agents.

“The Sacramento Police Department wants to reassure our community that we will continue to provide the best possible service to all members of our community, regardless of their immigration status,” department officials announced in the community bulletin.

The department policy dictates that Sacramento police officers “will not initiate police action based solely on an individual’s immigration status.”

In a memo on Tuesday, President Donald Trump’s acting deputy attorney general criticized local sanctuary policies that limit when local police can cooperate with federal immigration agents, arguing they undermine public safety, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The memo, first reported by Bloomberg Law News, says the U.S. Department of Justice will track and investigate local officials in jurisdictions that don’t cooperate with Trump’s immigration policies and potentially prosecute them.

Police officials on Thursday told The Sacramento Bee the department continues to stand by statements made in its Jan. 10 community bulletin, and its officers “continue to follow California law (SB54) and department policy.”

Enforcement of federal immigration laws is the sole responsibility of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (the federal agency also known as ICE) under the direction of the U.S. Department of Homeland Services; not the responsibility of state or local law enforcement agencies, according to the Police Department policy.

On Wednesday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the Trump Administration memo “a scare tactic” in an attempt “to intimidate and bully state and local law enforcement into carrying out” Trump’s threatened mass deportations.

Bonta was joined on Thursday by the state attorneys general of New York, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont in a joint statement declaring they will not be distracted by Trump’s “mass deportation agenda.”

“The president has made troubling threats to weaponize the U.S. Department of Justice’s prosecutorial authority and resources to attack public servants acting in compliance with their state laws, interfering with their ability to build trust with the communities they serve and protect,” the attorneys general from 11 states said in the joint statement. “Right now, these vague threats are just that: empty words on paper. But rest assured, our states will not hesitate to respond if these words become illegal actions.”

The U.S. Constitution prevents the federal government from commandeering states to enforce federal laws, which is well-established through longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent, according to the state attorneys general.

“This balance of power between the federal government and state governments is a touchstone of our American system of federalism,” the state attorneys general said in their statement. “Despite what he may say to the contrary, the president cannot unilaterally re-write the Constitution.”

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