Immigrants make up approximately 13% of the total U.S. population, and in recent immigration law news, Governor of California, Jerry Brown, has effectively vetoed a bill that would allow those that are non-citizens to participate as members of state and local boards and commissions, according to Fox News.
Governor Brown sent a veto message of SB 174 by Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) where he claimed that he believes that the current state law, which only allows for citizens to serve on commissions and state boards, is ‘the better path.’
The bill also would have prevented immigration authorities from making arrests inside of courthouses.
“Governance belongs to a nation’s citizens,” said Mike Spence, a councilman in West Covina, a city in Southern California. “Even Jerry Brown understands citizenship has to mean something.”
Trump has communicated his frustrations with the state’s immigration policies, referring to them as ‘illegal’ and ‘unconstitutional,’ and there are several cities in California that have opted out of the vote altogether.
If Brown would have signed the bill, California would have become the first state in the U.S. that would allow for legal residents as well as undocumented immigrants to serve on state and local boards that make decisions regarding policy areas such as labor and employment.
The authors of the bill, state Senator Ricardo Lara and Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo, who are both Democrats, have said that the language used in the bill may present discrepancies with the 14th Amendment, which promises citizenship to those who are either born or naturalized within the United States. Keep in mind that residents becoming naturalized citizens in 2015 had spent a median of seven years in LPR status.
“There was a time when Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, African Americans, and Catholics were prevented from serving, and California cleared away those barriers,” Lara said. “I predict that this barrier will eventually fall.”
The number of foreign-born individuals in the U.S. population has more than quadrupled since 1965 and is expected to reach 78 million by 2065. Immigration laws are consistently being adapted, and if you need any type of immigration legal help, don’t hesitate to contact a reliable immigration attorney. For more information about immigration legal help, contact Reeves Miller.
