California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed the TRUST Act -- or so-called Anti-Arizona bill -- over the weekend, while signing into law a bill to grant driver's licenses to young undocumented immigrants who qualify for a stay from deportation under the President Barack Obama's deferred action program.
The TRUST Act was passed by the state legislature in August and would have prohibited local police who arrest an illegal immigrant from holding that person for possible deportation at the request of federal immigration officials.
It would have made an exception for people who commit serious crimes.
The bill’s aim was to make it harder for federal immigration agents to use local police to help them deport people. Its supporters said it was needed to ensure that immigrant communities did not begin fearing police, as they have in states like Arizona, but it was opposed by federal immigration officials and many local sheriffs.
State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco introduced the bill.
"Working with the governor is only one part of the equation," he said. "Governors come and go, but this issue is a sustainable issue, it’s a populous issue.”
Ammiano said he plans to introduce a new bill as early as January.
At the same time the governor vetoed the TRUST Act, he signed into law Assembly Bill 2189, the driver's license bill. Undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and meet other requirements, like schooling or military service, will qualify for a stay from deportation and work permits under the president's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The bill to grant them driver's licenses will make transportation to and from their newly acquired jobs easier.
