COMPANIES THAT WORK WITH ICE COULD LOSE CALIFORNIA CONTRACTS

A California lawmaker has launched a bid to block the state from contracting with companies that funnel intelligence to federal immigration agents, in a move that would bolster the state's protections for undocumented residents targeted by the Trump administration.

On Friday, Assemblyman Rob Bonta introduced the "Sanctuary State Contracting and Investment Act" (AB 1332), a bill that would bar California cities and counties from contracting with companies that provide Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol with data on, or "extreme vetting" of, residents, or assist those agencies in immigrant detention. The bill also bars cities and states from "investment in stocks, bonds, securities, or other obligations" with those companies.

"The state has a moral obligation to protect its residents from persecution," according to the bill's text. "Immigrants are valuable and essential members of the state."

The bill continues on the efforts of prior legislation, like the sanctuary state law, the California Values Act, signed by then-Governor Jerry Brown in 2017. The sanctuary state law prohibits state agencies and employees from providing support to federal immigration agents involved in the Trump administration's push to deport immigrants, but does not prohibit them from giving companies that might do so contracts.