Long Beach City Leaders To Vote On Sanctuary City Laws Tuesday Night

Another city is looking to become a "Sanctuary City" on the day President Trump visits Southern California. 

The Long Beach Values Act would prohibit city employees from collecting information about immigrants in the country illegally, and from collecting "sensitive" information on all residents unless it's directly related to a city function. 

Information city workers would be prohibited from collecting include a person's race, ethnicity, place of birth, sexual orientation, biological sex or gender identity, and religious affiliation. The act would also prevent city employees from asking whether or not that person received public assistance, or was a victim or witness to a crime. 

Long Beach City Council member Lena Gonzalez, says local officials aren't lifting a finger to help the feds. 

"No matter what we do in Long Beach, it doesn't prevent any federal agent from coming in and unfortunately deporting our immigrant communities."

The proposal also makes exemptions in sharing immigration information with federal officials if that person has previous felony convictions. Crystal Mun-hye Baik, an assistant professor at UC Riverside, wrote in an op-ed in the Long Beach Post that the exceptions go too far. 

"Because we are likely to witness an escalation of deportations this  upcoming year, it's imperative that the Long Beach City Council approves a  clean Long Beach Values Act with no `carve-outs' for past convictions. It's also crucial for us to challenge the nationalist narrative of the good versus  bad immigrant so entrenched in American popular culture and media,'' Crystal  Mun-hye Baik, an assistant professor in the Department of Gender & Sexuality  Studies at UC Riverside, wrote in an op-ed in the Long Beach Post.

The Long Beach Press Telegram reports that about 42 percent of Long Beach residents identify as Hispanic or Latino. 

Last week Trump's Justice Department sued California over three of their sanctuary laws passed by the legislature and signed by Govenor Jerry Brown. Trump has blasted California and its top officials for providing a haven for what he says is a criminal element, drugs and smugglers. 


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