(The Center Square) – The California beachside city of Huntington Beach continued its confrontation with the state with its city council adopting a resolution declaring the city “a non-sanctuary city for illegal immigration for the prevention of crime.”
Huntington Beach has an ongoing lawsuit against the state’s sanctuary state law that limits cooperation with federal immigration authorities, citing a high reoffending rate by illegal aliens with active detainers from federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials that are supposed to result in transfers and deportation.
“The intent of this Resolution is to deliberately sidestep the Governor’s efforts to subvert the good work of federal immigration authorities and to announce the City’s cooperation with the federal government, the Trump Administration, and Border Czar Tom Homan’s work,” the city said in a statement. “City Officials have a duty to follow all laws, including federal immigration laws, and neither the Governor nor the State will interfere with that.”
The city has a mixed record in its confrontations with the state on issues ranging from housing to voter identification – a record that highlights the ongoing tension in constitutional federalism’s hierarchy that puts federal law over state law, and state law over local law, but still maintains some separate powers at each level of government.
In May 2024, a judge ruled in favor of the state in a case against the city’s insufficient zoning of new homes, finding it in violation of state housing laws that require it to zone – but not necessarily construct – 13,368 more high-density units.
The city emerged victorious last year against the state in a battle over its newly adopted voter ID laws for city elections, with the court finding the law was within the power of charter cities such as Huntington Beach to approve, and that the case was not yet ripe for further adjudication.
Now, with a new state law that went into effect Jan. 1 banning municipalities – explicitly including charter cities, which have historically enjoyed greater independence in local governance – from defying state mandates, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber have filed an appeal that is likely to result in a more final, complete ruling on the matter.