SANTA ANA – A Latino civil rights organization has filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit by the city of Huntington Beach challenging California’s sanctuary law, according to papers filed in federal court Thursday.
MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) filed the motion to intervene as defendants on behalf of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON). Attorneys argue that NDLON’s work advocating for laws that improve the lives of day laborers, migrants, and low-wage workers would be jeopardized by the repeal of the California Values Act (SB 54), the 2017 law Huntington Beach is challenging. According to the motion, the loss of immigrant protections in California could increase interactions between police and day laborers and other immigrants that end in deportations and could make immigrants less likely to seek help from law enforcement or report crimes.
“California has chosen, through democratic processes, to ensure that peaceful, law-abiding immigrants can live without fear of local police complicity in violations of constitutional rights guaranteed all persons, such as due process and equal protection,” said Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF president and general counsel. “No city, acting on wholly unfounded stereotypes and biases, should threaten that state guarantee, or we risk creating a society with ongoing inter-community rifts and arbitrary government actions.”
The city of Huntington Beach sued the state of California, Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Attorney General Rob Bonta on January 7. The city is challenging SB 54, which prevents local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials solely for the purpose of enforcing federal immigration law. Huntington Beach attorneys say SB 54 forces the city to violate federal immigration law and the U.S. Constitution’s requirement that state law yield to federal law. On January 23, the Huntington Beach City Council passed an ordinance declaring itself a “non-sanctuary” city.
“SB 54 is one of the most effective barriers California has to guard against the Trump administration’s dangerous war against immigrants,” said Chris Newman, NDLON Legal Director. “We will not permit Huntington Beach to take the state backward. While Trump and his accomplices seek to terrorize immigrants, to silence them, and deprive them of their constitutional rights, we will ensure that immigrant workers’ voices are heard in federal courts. We will defend a law that has prevented deportations and improved public safety for all Californians. Like Trump, Huntington Beach officials might believe they can bully immigrants to show they are above the law. But they are wrong. This litigation will propel efforts that strengthen SB54, and we will defend the rule of law itself.”
Attorneys argue that the rise of anti-immigrant sentiment abetted by the Trump administration’s aggressive push to round up and deport immigrants, makes it critical for an organization such as NLDON to defend SB 54’s protections. The overturning of SB 54 would remove protections for immigrant communities from overzealous and ideological enforcement by local police and would be detrimental to NDLON’s mission. In the motion, attorneys also say that the upcoming 2026 gubernatorial election makes the defense of SB 54 by the state uncertain.
“It’s obvious that Huntington Beach just wants another bite at the apple, but the CVA has already been upheld in state court and by the Ninth Circuit,” said Eduardo Casas, MALDEF staff attorney. “Their complaint perpetuates unfounded allegations that undocumented immigrants do not pay taxes, drain public resources, and drive crime rates when studies consistently find the opposite. Municipalities like Huntington Beach are trying to create a link between immigration status and propensity for crime where there is none.”
NDLON, a non-profit organization, was founded in 2001 with a mission to improve the lives of immigrant day laborers in the U.S. through advocacy and organizing efforts in coordination with 49 member organizations in 19 states. This is not the first time MALDEF and NDLON have challenged a California city’s anti-immigrant position. In the early 2000s, the two organizations joined together to challenge a proliferation of anti-solicitation ordinances in California cities that targeted day laborers. The partnership won a critical victory in Comite de Jornaleros de Redondo Beach v. City of Redondo Beach in 2012 when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that Redondo Beach’s ordinance violated the U.S. Constitution’s free speech protections.
Read the motion to intervene HERE.