Sacramento - The League of California Cities Asian Pacific Islander Caucus and the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Local Officials Caucus issued the following statement on the recent executive order on denying federal funding to sanctuary cities and the immigration ban.

Executive order on sanctuary cities: the possibility that cities across the country may be compelled by the federal government to enforce federal immigration laws

“We reject such moves based on the principle of local control as it will be in direct violation of our duty to ensure the safety and welfare of the citizens that reside within our municipal boundaries. Any attempt to compel our police and other city employees to enforce federal immigration law will result in a diversion of already scarce resources and overstretched personnel towards aims that have never been considered, by law or by custom, to be the remit of municipal administrations.

Further it risks jeopardizing relationships cultivated between our employees and the communities they serve, resulting in a climate of fear and mistrust that will hamper our attempts at law enforcement. Relationships based upon community trust have proven to reduce crime.

We also consider recent statements by the President that he may withdraw funding from cities that do not comply with such an order to be unconstitutional as they are a punitive act on cities for failing to exercise a power vested not in them but in the Federal government.”

Executive order on Muslim immigration ban:

“Targeting a group of people simply based on race and religion has proven to be ineffective and unjust in our nation’s history as shown through the negative impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.  The targeting of Muslims today draws parallel to the anti-Japanese racism and internment during WWII, which unjustly violated civil liberties in our nation’s history. It was the fear mongering and hate that led to the unlawful mass incarceration of innocent Japanese Americans. President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 issuing a formalized apology and reparations to Japanese internees. Let’s not let history repeat itself.”