Los Angeles County Considers Providing Millions in Legal Aid to Illegals to Battle Deportation

The Trump campaign raised no small number of controversial issues.  That really comes as no surprise given the huge differences in policy positions between the two candidates.  Now that Mr. Trump prepares to begin his presidency, he will have the opportunity to put those words into action.  Needless to say, forces on the left couldn’t be more unhappy, and are preparing to do battle.

In one of the more outrageous reactions to Mr. Trump’s impending inauguration, we find Los Angeles County actually debating spending millions of dollars to provide legal assistance to illegal aliens as they battle to fight federal immigration laws and remain in the US.

Los Angeles County supervisors are expected to consider next week whether to set aside an initial $1 million to help cover legal services for unauthorized immigrants facing deportation.

The proposal from supervisors Janice Hahn and Hilda Solis would direct the county to earmark the funds for the current fiscal year to help immigrants living in the county without authorization. By some estimates, they number more than 800,000.

Nonprofit legal providers that serve immigrant clients would administer the program, according to Hahn’s office. More funds would be sought next year.

As an intermission in this discussion, observe that it is estimated that there are almost 1 million illegals in Los Angeles County.  Hence this proposal would theoretically give each illegal $1.00 toward legal expenses.  No further comment on that point needs to be made.

In addition to a program that is so underfunded as to be laughable, the whole plan may run afoul of a US Supreme Court case:

State and local governments seeking to provide undocumented immigrants with legal help could be exposing themselves to litigation, said John Eastman, a professor of constitutional law at Chapman University in Orange.

Eastman, a conservative scholar, cites the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Arizona v. United States, which overturned most components of a controversial Arizona state anti-illegal immigration law known as SB 1070.

“The Supreme Court was pretty clear that immigration policy is the exclusive preserve of the federal government,” Eastman said. “What L.A. County is proposing to do here is not to help enforce immigration laws, but to put themselves adverse to the enforcement of immigration laws — and helping to fund the prevention of enforcement of immigration laws.”

If the county uses public funds, “any taxpayer could sue the county to challenge the deployment of those funds in a way that might well be illegal,” he said.

And with that it sounds like the County of Los Angeles may also need to allocate some addition funds for litigation — only this time not to battle the federal government over immigration policy, but to battle its own citizens who might not wish to see their tax dollars wasted fighting established federal law.

Source:  Southern California Public Radio