California law already requires state and local law enforcement officials to refuse cooperation with ICE in almost all cases, unless the criminal alien has been convicted of a serious or violent crime. AB 2792, however, goes farther and requires state and local law enforcement officers to provide any criminal alien in custody notice that an interview with ICE is optional and gives them the ability to refuse any interaction with ICE while in law enforcement custody. By doing so, AB 2792 essentially allows deportable aliens to choose whether ICE has access to law enforcement facilities and allows criminal aliens the ability avoid the enforcement of immigration law.
Despite serious public safety concerns regarding the failure to enforce immigration law against convicted criminals, Governor Brown categorized AB 2792’s passage as a “measured approach to due process and transparency principles.” ICE has yet to comment on the bill.