RivCo Lawmaker Says CA Assembly Proposal 'Danger To California'

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — A proposal in the state Assembly to provide state- funded legal assistance to undocumented migrants seeking to avoid deportation and establish residency despite convictions for serious felony offenses is headed for a hearing Tuesday before the Assembly Committee on the Judiciary.

A Riverside County lawmaker in the state Assembly blasted the proposal, calling it a danger to Californians on Monday.

"This bill endangers Californians by using taxpayer funds to protect dangerous criminal illegal immigrants from deportation," Assemblyman Bill Essayli, R-Norco, said of AB 2031. "Policies like this are exactly what led to the murder of a nursing student in Georgia, Laken Riley, University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts, San Francisco resident Kate Steinle and America Thayer, beheaded by her boyfriend, who had an extensive criminal record."

AB 2031, the "Representation, Equity & Protections for All Immigrants Act," was authored by Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, who said in a statement attached to the bill that it "will ensure racial justice and equitable access to immigration services for all Californians -- not some."

The measure, which is slated for a second hearing Tuesday before the Assembly Committee on the Judiciary, seeks to amend the One California Program, established in 2015 as a means to provide legal aid to youths petitioning to stay in the United States under the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, umbrella.

One California distributes grants to nonprofits that are set up to render assistance to border crossers and others who have entered the country without advance permission. According to analyses attached to AB 2031, in fiscal year 2020-21, the California Department of Social Services issued taxpayer-funded grants totaling $43 million to nearly 100 nonprofits offering services under One California.

The main changes Jones-Sawyer is proposing under his bill are removal of prohibitions against making funding available to directly assist undocumented persons with "a serious or violent felony" conviction, and funding to legally assist minors without a "nexus" to California -- that is, any undocumented minor, not only those with family or sponsors in the state.

The provision on undocumented felons would enable them to receive state-paid legal aid furnished to halt "removal," or deportation, proceedings in federal court, as well as help them with "post-conviction relief," or utilizing allowances under state law to have their criminal records expunged, wherever possible.

Jones-Sawyer said the current effort compares to the state's facilitation of drivers' licenses for undocumented migrants, their access to Medi-Cal health care coverage and the state's interposition in federal Immigration & Customs Enforcement cases, limiting the level of cooperation that local law enforcement agencies can provide to ICE.

"This bill improves the state's immigration legal services program ... by removing outdated exclusions to legal services," the lawmaker said.

While the bill's analyses included figures on the backlog of pending unresolved immigration cases in California -- 357,893 -- there was no breakdown of the applicants' backgrounds, such as how many are convicted felons and the types of crimes for which they were sentenced to prison, jail or probation.

"As a former federal prosecutor, I routinely brought charges against criminal illegal immigrants who had horrific criminal records," Essayli said. "California should be assisting federal law enforcement in removing these criminals, not fighting to protect them. Our legislators are confused on who they represent in Sacramento. We must always act in the best interest of California citizens."

Among the listed supporters of the bill were California Public Defenders Association, Equality California, Root & Rebound and LaRaza.

One of the statements in support stated, "Withholding legal assistance from individuals based on their past interaction with the criminal legal system unduly re-punishes them for convictions for which they have already served their time or gone through a rigorous parole process in the legal system. Exclusions from legal representation, based on prior convictions, are out of step."