Dean Johnson weighs in on anti-'sanctuary state' ruling in Huntington Beach

Dean Kevin R. Johnson spoke to San Francisco public radio station KQED about a Southern California judge’s ruling that the city of Huntington Beach can ignore California’s “sanctuary” law.

Orange County Superior Court Judge James Crandall determined on Sept. 27 that California’s “sanctuary state” protections for undocumented immigrants under SB 54 conflict with Huntington Beach’s local control as a charter city. Huntington Beach is the first city to successfully challenge SB 54.

“If this is upheld, it really is going to undermine what the Legislature thought it was doing with SB 54,” Johnson told KQED. Some of the state’s other 120 charter cities could follow suit, Johnson said, adding that he expects the case to reach the California Supreme Court.

Kevin R. Johnson is dean, Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law, and professor of 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