California’s Next Lawless Step: Illegal Aliens in Public Office



Just when you think California has finally done it all, they come up with something new to add to their mix of reckless lawlessness.  Not content with being a sanctuary state or trying to order private citizens and businesses to possibly obstruct federal immigration enforcement, now they want to let illegal aliens serve in public office.

On May 1, California State Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) introduced Senate Bill (SB) 174, ridiculously named the “California Inclusion Act.”  The bill makes anyone “regardless of citizenship or immigration status, … eligible to hold an appointed civil office if the person is 18 years of age and a resident of the state.”  This would have the effect of opening up thousands, probably even tens of thousands, of appointed positions in state and local agencies, boards and commissions to illegal aliens.

Under Senator Lara’s bill, as long as a job is appointed rather than elected, and civil rather than military, illegal aliens would no longer be barred from being appointed. Secretaries of whole statewide departments?  Criminal prosecutors in the Attorney General’s or local District Attorney’s office?  The whole state parole board?  Any city or county board?  All no problem: suddenly wide open to illegal aliens at the stroke of a pen.

Could the state or local governments pay them, too?  Knowingly employing illegal aliens is a federal crime: the law authorizes penalties of up to six months’ imprisonment and a $3000 fine for each alien involved [emphasis added], and notably doesn’t make any exceptions for state or local government employment.  But would that matter?

First, the U.S. Department of Justice would have to actually decide to charge the employers criminally, itself an  open question.  But even if they did, state officials would then likely make some absurd argument (yet again) about how the Tenth Amendment allows them to defy federal law.  While this would turn the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution on its head, the ever-creative Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals might happily agree with it.  Senator Lara, of course, already says that at least illegal-alien “DACA” recipients would be eligible for pay under his bill, despite the Trump administration’s efforts to wind up that program, and despite multiple courts now having ruled that DACA recipients actually aren’t “lawfully present.”

Serving in public office means exercising sovereignty.  It means taking decisions to enforce and impose the potentially heavy-handed power of government on other people, citizens and non-citizens alike.  It’s part of why we limit serving on juries to citizens (although California has had its issues with that, too).  The California Government Code even still, perhaps surprisingly, defines “the people” within the meaning of state law as only including citizens.  But SB 174 is one more step in the direction of making the meaning of the word “citizenship” in California mean nothing. In California’s upside-down world, American citizenship might already fairly be called a detriment, while it’s the illegal aliens who are the ones shrouded in all sorts of benefits and privileges, and now, with this bill, they could effectively be ruling over citizens.

SB 174 specifically says it doesn’t make illegal aliens eligible for elected office, but at this rate, it’s not much of a stretch to see that coming next.

The situation is now disturbingly easy to sum up: “California Can’t Stop Passing Laws To Shield Illegal Aliens.”  But overreach always provokes a response, and at some point, hopefully even the people of California will decide they’ve had enough with this kind of foolishness.

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12 Comments

  1. avatar

    In the first paragraph there is an untruth – Lie. Quote: eligible to hold an appointed civil office if the person is 18 years of age and a resident of the state.” A foreign invader cannot be a resident of the state as they are citizens of a foreign country. They are law breaking individuals. If they really wanted citizenship they would give up their countries citizenship, flag, language and become Americans. They would lose too many of hard working citizens’ tax dollars if they did that.

  2. avatar

    stop all federal monies! it seems as if anything these “illegal officials” ruled on would be “illegal” & it would only hurt “legal” Californians! they want to be mexico so let mexico support them! all companies should move out of California! how in the world can anyone expect to hold public office in place where they are “lawbreakers” themselves? how can “legal” Californians allow this to happen?

  3. avatar
    Crystal M Moore on

    I wish California would just go ahead and secede already. I am so tired of them spitting in the face of our Constitution! !

  4. avatar

    FROM THE SAME LA RAZA FASCIST:

    It Pays to be Illegal in California
    By JENNIFER G. HICKEY May 10, 2018
    It certainly is a good time to be an illegal alien in California. Democratic State Sen. Ricardo Lara last week pitched a bill to permit illegal immigrants to serve on all state and local boards and commissions. This week, lawmakers unveiled a $1 billion health care plan that would include spending $250 million to extend health care coverage to all illegal alien adults.
    “Currently, undocumented adults are explicitly and unjustly locked out of healthcare due to their immigration status. In a matter of weeks, California legislators will have a decisive opportunity to reverse that cruel and counterproductive fact,” Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula said in Monday’s Sacramento Bee.

    • avatar

      His legislation, Assembly Bill 2965, would give as many as 114,000 uninsured illegal aliens access to Medi-Cal programs. A companion bill has been sponsored by State Sen. Richard Lara.
      But that could just be a drop in the bucket. The Democrats’ plan covers more than 100,000 illegal aliens with annual incomes bless than $25,000, however an estimated 1.3 million might be eligible based on their earnings.

  5. avatar

    they already let ILLEGALS PRACTICE LAW!

    In a Facebook post in 2016, apparently celebrating her graduation from Santa Clara University School of Law, Lizbeth Mateo declared, in Spanish: “[E]verything is dedicated to Oaxaca, Mexico!! to that land that I miss so much.”

  6. avatar

    VIVA LA RAZA SUPREMACY?

    “Liberal governing has transformed beautiful California into the poverty capital of America with the worst quality of life. Crazy taxes, crazy high cost of living, and crazy overreaching regulations have crushed the middle class, forcing the middle class to exit the Sunshine State. All that is left in California are illegals feeding at the breast of the state, rapidly growing massive homeless tent cities, and the mega-rich.” LLOYD MARCUS

    • avatar

      Agree with you 100% except I believe Florida is “The Sunshine State” which is also being ruined by illegal immigrants.

      California is “The Golden State”, especially to the illegals who benefit from all the absurd benefits for them.

  7. avatar

    TRAVIS ALLEN:

    Allen prioritized the fight against “sanctuary” policies across the state. “I’ve always been against this illegal sanctuary state from the very beginning,” he said. “Last year in the legislature, I put forth legislation — AB 1252 — to defund every sanctuary jurisdiction in California, and of course the Democrats killed that.

  8. avatar

    BLOG: LA RAZA FASCIST RICARDO LARA’S “CALIFORNIA INCLUSION ACT” IS BUL LSH IT. THERE IS NOTHING “INCLUSIVE ABOUT ANYTHING HAVING TO DO WITH THE MEXICAN FASCIST. IT IS BY AND FOR LA RAZA “The Race” ONLY!