Immigration Article of the Day: Carrie L. Rosenbaum, The Role of Equality Principles in Preemption Analysis of Sub-Federal Immigration Laws: The California TRUST Act
Carrie L. Rosenbaum, The Role of Equality Principles in Preemption Analysis of Sub-Federal Immigration Laws: The California TRUST Act, Chapman Law Review (2015) Download The Role of Equality Principles in Preemption Analysis of Sub-federal Immigration Laws
Secure Communities, and now the Obama Administration’s Priority Enforcement Program, incentivize local law enforcement officers to potentially misuse their discretion in enforcement of criminal law to identify those they suspect of being unauthorized migrants. TRUST Acts evolved in part as an attempt to curtail the possibility of such abuses of discretion by limiting local law enforcement’s ability to detain individuals beyond their original criminal incarceration pursuant to Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold requests. The question of whether federal immigration law preempts state and local legislation related to immigration law has primarily focused on anti-immigrant measures. In this article however, I address preemption of immigrant integrative sub-federal immigration laws like California’s TRUST Act, which may decrease the harms caused by potentially racially imbued discretionary sub-federal policing. Specifically, I contend that federal immigration law does not preempt TRUST Acts, particularly when assessed in light of equality principles. With little likelihood of comprehensive federal immigration reform, sub-federal entities will likely continue to create measures relating to immigration law. It may be possible that integrative ones have a stronger basis in the law than those that are anti-immigrant.
KJ