Incoming Trump Officials Send CA Lawmakers Letter Regarding Illegal Sanctuary Laws

President-elect Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, sent a letter to multiple California cities, counties, and state lawmakers over the weekend, warning them of the negative consequences they are facing if sanctuary city laws hinder illegal immigrant enforcement once President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Sanctuary city laws have been in place in different California cities for over a decade, with the state sanctuary city law coming into effect in 2018 following the signing of SB 54. While Trump fought against these laws during his first term in office, he didn’t manage to override or get rid of them. The California Supreme Court even ruled in 2020 that all cities in California must obey the law.

However, things drastically changed last month. Following the reelection of Trump and his proposed illegal immigrant policy changes, including ramping up of deportation efforts against illegal immigrants and stricter border measures, many cities and counties in California defiantly decided instead to strengthen and broaden their sanctuary city laws.

The city of Los Angeles made nationwide headlines for their passed ordinance,, which officially bars city resources from being used for immigration enforcement, and stops law enforcement in the city from assisting immigration authorities. San Diego County issued updates. And the state issued major updates too, with Attorney General Rob Bonta further limiting state and local participation in immigration enforcement earlier this month.

This weekend, Miller, who was a senior advisor for Trump during his first term, and is currently the incoming deputy chief of staff for policy, sent 249 letters to lawmakers in cities, counties, and states with sanctuary policies. While they were sent across the United States, the bulk of letters went to California to lawmakers including San Diego County Board of Supervisors President Nora Vargas, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell.

Letters from Miller

In the letters, Miller warned of criminal liability and legal action against sanctuary cities and states. Each letter was crafted specifically for the person receiving it, pointing out what they have done and why it violates federal law. In all the letters, Miller points out that “Federal law is clear: aliens unlawfully present in the United States are subject to removal from the country, and it is a crime to conceal, harbor, or shield them.”

In the letter to Bonta, Miller added, “As Attorney General, on December 4, 2024, you stated that the State of California will not enforce federal immigration laws, encouraging defiance by all California jurisdictions. This rhetoric illustrates the State’s intent to blatantly violate federal law. Such lawlessness subjects you and your subordinates to significant risk of criminal and civil liability. Accordingly, we are sending this letter to put you on notice of this risk and insist that you comply with our nation’s laws.”

For Vargas, Miller pointed out the county’s vote earlier this month to strengthen sanctuary laws, saying, “This resolution clearly violates federal law and subjects those who abide by it to significant risk of criminal and civil liability. Accordingly, we are sending this letter to put you on notice of this risk and insist that you comply with our nation’s laws.”

All letters then ended with, “The fact of the matter is that you and the other officials who support or enforce sanctuary laws, policies, and regulations have a very personal stake in the matter — you each could face criminal prosecution and civil liability for your illegal acts,” or “Because your jurisdiction’s sanctuary laws or policies usually require multiple officials to coordinate their activities, all such officials could be criminally liable under multiple federal criminal conspiracy statutes.”

Reaction

Many of the lawmakers addressed responded quickly to the letters.

“The threats are a scare tactic, plain and simple,” said Bonta over the weekend. “While we are unable to comment on the specifics of the letter, we want to be clear: SB 54 was upheld by the courts during the first Trump administration, and it prevents the use of state and local resources for federal immigration enforcement with certain narrow exceptions. SB 54 does nothing, however, to block federal agencies from conducting immigration enforcement themselves. California will continue to comply with all applicable state and federal laws, and we expect all local law enforcement agencies to do the same.”

Vargas said, “We will not allow local resources to be used for actions that separate families, harm community trust, or divert critical resources from addressing our most pressing challenges. Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, and our County will not be a tool for policies that hurt our residents.”

A spokesman for Mayor Bass added, “The letter is wrong on public safety and wrong on the law. We will always act in the best interests of the people of Los Angeles.”

However, with only a few weeks to go before the inauguration, and Trump vowing to put many anti-illegal immigration measures into place on day one, the tone may change very quickly, very.

“Well, first of all, some of these Boards have a lot of outgoing people,” said Lawyer James Haines to the Globe on Monday. “Vargas will be out by that time. They can revote. But what wasn’t being said was that cities with sanctuary laws can still get a lot of help. First off, ICE will simply send more people to these places, so they’ll crackdown even harder in sanctuary places. But second, authorities in sanctuary places still have to help federal authorities, especially when, say, they are looking for an immigrant who is also a criminal. That way it is a criminal investigation, and they cannot hinder that.

“There’s also work arounds. One that sticks out to me is how one California cop I know is going to say, if asked ‘By law, I cannot tell you. I cannot tell you that that person you are looking for lives at [address]. I cannot tell you they work at [their place of work].’ that sort of malicious compliance.

“But beyond those, yeah, Miller is right on the money. They can fight them legally. You can bet that ICE people are being trained now to record ever instance of local authorities refusing to help them. And then they’ll push back and challenge once they get a good number of them. Or if they disrupted an ice investigation that hindered a criminal case or if an illegal immigrant committed a major crime because of local officials not assisting federal officials where it may not have happened if they helped and caught them sooner. If the latter happens, a sanctuary city law causing someone to die or get badly hurt, it will go straight to court.

“That last scenario is very plausible and terrifying for these cities and states with these laws. Sanctuary city laws are losing popularity across the country, even in blue states. A case coming out where the law causes the death of someone during Trump’s second term? That would really turn the tide.

“As for Miller’s latter, we’ll see how these same people respond closer to election day.”

A major nationwide ICE crackdown on illegal immigrants is expected to occur shortly after Trump’s inauguration next month.