California Senate passes "anti-Arizona" immigration bill

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5. Sen. Ammiano's fact sheet (rather than RW talking points):

While the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) stated mission for S-Comm is to target serious offenses, the program casts far too wide a net. ICE’s own data shows that in California seven out of ten of the over 67,900 Californians deported under S-Comm had no convictions or were accused only of minor offenses. Unfortunately, this means immigrant residents who are victims or witnesses to a crime now fear cooperating with police since any contact with law enforcement can result in separation from their families and deportation. Even U.S. citizens, survivors of domestic violence, and immigrants arrested only for selling street food without a permit have been unfairly detained due to S-Comm.

ICE Holds are Voluntary: This is supported by federal case law, federal regulations, and federal statutes. In Baquer v. City of Indianapolis, the federal court held that “A detainer is not a criminal warrant, but rather a voluntary request…”

Specifically, the bill:
• Sets a clear standard for local governments to ot submit to ICE’s request to detain an ndividual unless the individual has a serious or iolent felony conviction.
• Provides key safeguards against profiling and
the wrongful detention of citizens. Localities
that detain individuals with serious convictions
for deportation will develop plans to ensure
citizens are not subject to immigration holds,
guard against profiling, and ensure crime victims
are not discouraged from reporting crimes.

full: http://www.asianlawcaucus.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/ab-1081-Ammiano-Fact-Sheet-5.25.12.pdf

In fact, some may bring up the Edwin Ramos case in arguing against this bill, but the facts are that the San Francisco sheriff did submit Ramos's fingerprints to ICE in March 2008, but ICE declined to place a detainer on Ramos three months before he committed a triple murder for which he was recently convicted. Ramos had two violent crime convictions before ICE received his info from the sheriff, so criminals like him would not be protected under this law anyway.