text: Gubernatorial candidate and Assemblyman Travis Allen announces the receipt of more than 35,000 petitions he has received from across the state encouraging local elected officials to opt out of California’s sanctuary-state law while speaking at the Huntington Beach pier Friday, April 27, 2018. (Photo by Michael Fernandez, Contributing Photographer)
  When Assemblyman Travis Allen called a press conference last week to announce a new wrinkle in the growing anti-sanctuary movement, the event had all the trappings of a political rally.
  There’s a reason for that.
  Allen, a Republican from Huntington Beach, is running for governor. And he had just collected some 35,000 signatures from across the state denouncing a new state law – Senate Bill 54 – that limits how local police work with federal immigration officials.
  Protestors on opposite sides of the issue face-off against each with megaphones outside the Los Alamitos council chambers ahead of the expected vote by the Los Alamitos City Council giving final approval for an ordinance that would exempt the city from complying with the California Values Act, otherwise known as the state’s sanctuary law in Los Alamitos on Monday, April 16, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
  Congressman Dana Rohrabacher speaks to the Newport Beach City Council about the federal lawsuit filed against California for three laws that protect unauthorized immigrants, including SB-54. Rohrabacher urged the council to join a growing number of cities and Orange County in opposing the state’s sanctuary stance. Photo by Sam Gangwer/Contributing Photographer SCNG
  The Los Alamitos council listens to public comments ahead of the expected vote by the Los Alamitos City Council giving final approval for an ordinance that would exempt the city from complying with the California Values Act, otherwise known as the state’s sanctuary law, in Los Alamitos on Monday, April 16, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
  Gubernatorial candidate and Assemblyman Travis Allen announces the receipt of more than 35,000 signatures he received from across the state encouraging local elected officials to opt out of California’s sanctuary-state law. Allen’s press conference at the Huntington Beach pier Friday, April 27, 2018, had the air of a campaign rally. In the background, someone is holding a “Save our Save” sign — the same slogan used during the Proposition 187 campaign in the early 1990s. (Photo by Michael Fernandez, Contributing Photographer)
  Republican congressional candidate Tim Donnelly has long been a foe of illegal immigration. He is one of many candidates across Southern California taking a stand on the state’s sanctuary laws.
  Show Caption
  of
  Expand
  Just two days earlier, state Sen. Kevin de León had been in San Diego doing some campaigning of his own. The Los Angeles Democrat is running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by his opponent, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and part of de León’s day in San Diego was spent defending SB54, which he wrote.
  Those very different campaign stops show the current political power of the law known as the California Values Act and, more broadly, the idea of offering support for unauthorized residents.
  RELATED STORY: California’s sanctuary law, SB54: Here’s what it is — and isn’t
  Some of those using SB54 as a political launching pad are newcomers making the rounds of council meetings as they aspire to elected office. Others are well-known names seeking to retain their seats or move up to a higher office. Many are getting free TV time, especially on Fox News programming, to tout anti-illegal immigration views.
  The law has hit a nerve, with hundreds of people attending city or county meetings to support or urge resistance to SB54.
  On the whole, the law is relatively popular.
  A poll released last week by UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found 56 percent of voters favor the law versus 41 percent who oppose it. When asked whether they would want their cities to opt out of the law, 52 percent said no and 42 percent said yes.
  Meanwhile, a recent Gallup poll found that 58 percent of its respondents worry about illegal immigration a “fair amount” or a “great deal,” yet only 35 percent say immigration, overall, should decrease. And another recent poll conducted at Chapman University in Orange County found that even in the county where the anti-sanctuary movement has caught fire, there is majority support for a legal path to citizenship and for DACA, the Obama-era program that protects young people brought to the country illegally as children.
  For Republicans, the issue has been a boon – so far. Many hope the anti-sanctuary push will bring conservative voters to the polls in June.
  “When the words ‘sanctuary prisoner’ come up, people go ballistic,” said Shawn Steel, Republican National Committeeman representing California.
  “It’s the biggest losing issue that the radical Democrats have exposed themselves to yet.”
  When the California Republican Party meets this weekend in San Diego for their convention, the anti-sanctuary push will be “the number one talk item,” Steel predicted.
  One speaker at the GOP meet-up will be Susan Tully, of the anti-illegal immigration group, Federation for American Immigration Reform. The goal, Steel said, is to have 100 cites and 20 counties taking up anti-SB54 actions by June. So far this year, more than 25 cities and three counties — Orange, San Diego and Tuolumne — have officially voiced disapproval of SB-54.
  The Orange County attorney added that he and his wife, Orange County Supervisor Michelle Steel, also will introduce a state GOP resolution that will be similar to anti-SB54 statements made by communities throughout Southern California.
  Michelle Steel is running for re-election and was quick to introduce the topic on her board after Los Alamitos in northern Orange County passed an ordinance to essentially opt-out of the law. It was one of about 30 copy-cat resolutions enacted in the region after Los Alamitos’ move. In addition to denouncing SB54, many communities have expressed support for a federal lawsuit aimed at upending three California laws that protect unauthorized immigrants.
  Michelle Steel is one of many Republicans taking to TV, or social media, to align with the anti-sanctuary movement.
  “When you are on Fox nine times in three days, a lot of people are going to see it and get excited,” Shawn Steel said.
  But some wonder if the GOP’s enthusiasm to douse SB54, and the message the effort sends to many non GOP voters, echoes the political calculation that helped create Proposition 187.
  The 1994 proposal to limit public services for undocumented immigrants – an idea approved by most California voters – was struck down in court and, later, became a political drag for the GOP. In the decades since Prop. 187, the GOP’s clout in California has been in decline, as Latinos now overwhelmingly vote for Democrats.
  “The use of the immigration dog-whistle runs greater risks than in the past,” said Louis DeSipio, a professor of political science at UC Irvine.
  Jim Brulte, chairman of the Republican Party of California and a long-time state legislator representing San Bernardino, said the politics of SB54 can be a positive for the GOP in some parts of the state but a “net negative” in others.
  “Our state party is on the record against California being a sanctuary state,” he said.
  Fred Smoller, a Chapman University associate professor of political science, believes the current momentum against SB54 is, for the GOP, a short-term win that will backfire in the long-run, a repeat of the party’s Prop. 187 dilemma.
  “It’s political suicide,” Smoller said. “Demographics have changed in 20 years.”
  Many voters in California, including people inclined to support other conservative ideals, have expressed support for immigrants.
  “My polling in Orange County shows we’re far more tolerant and compassionate place than the elected officials and this current issue suggests,” said Smoller. His survey found that 83 percent of participants said there should be a way for unauthorized immigrants who meet certain requirements to stay in the country legally, and 78 percent favor the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that gives temporary relief from the threat of deportation.
  At council meetings throughout the region in recent weeks, anti-SB54 proposals have led to overflow crowds, with up to 200 people turning out to argue both sides of the debate. Many of them are from out-of-town. They include anti-illegal immigration die-hards who see a new opportunity to be heard.
  There also are pro sanctuary candidates as well, like newcomer Jestin Samson, a Bernie Sanders-supporter competing with incumbent state Sen. Jan. Nguyen for her seat in the 34th District. Samson has spoken at many of the council meetings. So has Omar Siddiqui, a Democrat in the crowded bid to oust Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who represents parts of of coastal Orange County.
  On Tuesday, Siddiqui dashed from Washington D.C. and caught an earlier flight to arrive at his hometown, Costa Mesa, one of the latest cities to adopt a resolution declaring their opposition to SB54.
  Siddiqui said there are indeed many campaigning on the issue as a way to appease their base. He said he’s speaking out because it’s an important issue, and he’s unsure how it will play out politically.
  “It’s a mixed bag,” he said. “It has brought attention to our campaign. We get a lot of messages from people.” Those messages, he added, are both positive and negative.
  Smoller, of Chapman University, said Republicans are more likely than Democrats to campaign on the issue.
  Among the GOP candidates embracing the anti-SB54 push are Andrew Kotyuk, vying to bump the incumbent in the 42nd Assembly District seat in the Inland Empire, and Tim Donnelly, a former assemblyman and long-time illegal immigration foe who is running for Congress in the 8th Congressional District, which includes parts of San Bernardino County. Two of the three men vying to become Orange County’s next sheriff – Undersheriff Donald Barnes and Aliso Viejo Mayor David Harrington– say the state law hampers law enforcement efforts. In the 49th congressional race for Darrell Issa’s open seat, which includes part of south Orange County, Diane Harkey and Supervisor Kristin Gaspar both rallied the San Diego Board of Supervisors to oppose the state law.
  And in the 48th Congressional race, incumbent Rohrabacher and opponent Scott Baugh have both made immigration a central issue. Rohrabacher even offered the Fountain Valley City Council that he would pony up, if needed, the legal costs of filing an amicus brief against the state.
  The issue doesn’t seem to be dying down.
  Shawn Steel, the GOP leader from Orange County, said he is teaming up with the Federation for American Immigration Reform, known as FAIR. In coming weeks, the group will speak to Republican leaders around the state about what their communities can do to voice opposition to the state law.
  FAIR, which says it has 1.9 million members and supporters, bills itself as a non-partisan public interest group working to improve border security and reduce overall immigration while focusing on bringing in more skilled immigrants. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors and labels organizations it finds to be hate groups, has listed FAIR as a hate group with ties to white supremacists, an allegation that FAIR strongly denies.
  In Los Alamitos, the first Orange County city to pass a measure against the California Values Act since the law took effect in January, Councilman Warren Kusumoto said national organizations had nothing to do with his ordinance.
  “This is not for me to stir passions and get votes,” said Kusumoto, a councilman since 2010 who is up for re-election but leaning against running again.
  Los Alamitos Mayor Troy Edgar, who is termed out and said he’s not seeking to run again for higher office, has heard from thousands of people who say they are passionate about the issue.
  “I have tried to not get caught up in the political or campaign aspect that is happening with some folks running for higher office,” Edgar said.
  “For me, this remains a rule of law issue and the governor and state legislature have overstepped their constitutional boundaries.”