Arkansas, GOP states back 'sanctuary' suit

SAN FRANCISCO -- Texas and more than a dozen other states led by Republican governors, including Arkansas, got behind the Trump administration on Monday in its lawsuit over California's so-called sanctuary laws that protect people in the U.S. illegally.

California's laws are designed to interfere with or block federal immigration enforcement but the state does not have that authority, the other states said in a court filing in the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit against California. The filing in federal court in Sacramento supports the Justice Department's attempt to block the laws.

The Justice Department sued California earlier this month over three state laws, including one that requires the state to review detention facilities where immigrants are held and another that limits the ability of state and local law enforcement officials to turn people over to immigration authorities.

Federal officials have said California officials have prevented them from removing dangerous people who are in the U.S. illegally. California officials say their sanctuary policies increase public safety by promoting trust.

The filing by Texas and the other states argues that California's laws should be blocked on the same grounds that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a 2010 Arizona immigration law.

The Arizona law required police, while enforcing other laws, to question the immigration status of people suspected of being in the country illegally, made it a crime to harbor people here illegally, and banned them from seeking work in public places.

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down key provisions of the law in 2012.

If Arizona's laws are overridden by federal law, then so are California's, the court filing for Texas and the other states said. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and legal experts have argued that California's laws are different from Arizona's.

Besides Arkansas, the states joining Texas are: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and West Virginia. Louisiana's governor, John Bel Edwards, is a Democrat.

The Republican governors of Mississippi and Maine also joined the filing, though their states, which have Democrats as attorneys general, did not.

A Section on 03/27/2018

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FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2018, file photo, demonstrators hold signs outside of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in San Francisco. Texas and more than a dozen other states led by Republican governors got behind the Trump administration on Monday in its lawsuit over California's so-called sanctuary laws that protect people in the U.S. illegally. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, file)

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