San Diego County leaders weigh entering sanctuary law challenge

San Diego County is considering whether to join the Trump administration’s lawsuit against the state of California over sanctuary laws that restrict cooperation with federal immigration authorities. 

The Republican-majority Board of Supervisors in the county began debate Tuesday on the matter, Reuters reported. A vote is expected later Tuesday. 

{mosads}

California’s so-called sanctuary laws, supported by the state’s Democratic legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown (D), bar local police in some circumstances from handing over immigrants in the country illegally to federal custody. 

The Justice Department is seeking to overturn three state sanctuary laws that it claims are unconstitutional.

San Diego’s decision would follow a move by Republican leaders in Orange County last month to join the administrations’s lawsuit. 

Trump administration officials have panned the laws in California and other states as an affront to the Trump administration’s efforts to increase border security and decrease cross-border crime. 

San Diego is California’s third-most populous city and lies directly on the Mexican border, across from the adjoining city of Tijuana. Nearly 2.5 million immigrants are estimated to be residing in California illegally.