Dean Johnson Comments for Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, and CALmatters on ‘Sanctuary’ Law Challenge

Dean Kevin R. Johnson commented for media including the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, and CALmatters on the Trump administration’s legal challenge to three new “sanctuary” laws passed in California that limit state law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently filed suit seeking to force California to cooperate with the administration’s increased immigration enforcement efforts.

Dean Johnson told the Times that if there is a conflict between state and federal law, “then federal law is going to prevail.” But the California laws are “pretty carefully crafted” to ensure that they are not at odds with federal requirements, he added. California acknowledges that “the federal government is in charge of immigration and we have to cooperate,” Johnson said, “but we don’t have to go one inch further.”

King Hall alumnus Darrell Steinberg ’84, mayor of Sacramento, is also quoted in the Times article. Professor Holly Cooper is also quoted in the Sacramento Bee report.

Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.