State officials argue that the state’s sanctuary laws make Californians safer. The acting ICE director argues the laws have made immigration enforcement more dangerous.
Over the years, vigils at one immigrant-detention center in Richmond, California have changed, with some churches providing sanctuary to migrant families threatened with deportation, and raising funds for bonds and other forms of emergency support for detainees.
The political journey between good intentions and the statute book was twisted even by Sacramento standards in 2017. But there was more — much more.
A fight over sanctuary cities is brewing in one of them — tiny Cudahy, located in Southeast Los Angeles County. Anti-immigrant groups hope to choke off municipal funds to punish the city, even if the Trump administration fails in its attempts to do so. BY ROBIN UREVICH
A photo essay by Joanne Kim.
Co-published by Newsweek
California citizens have declared they will defy the federal government to protect the estimated 2.6 million undocumented immigrants woven into the state’s civic, economic and spiritual life. Here the nationwide wave of resistance to President Donald Trump has become a tsunami.