California is ready to take on the Justice Department.
That’s according to San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón, who was responding to a lawsuit against the state brought by Attorney General Jeff Sessions over immigration laws.
“I find it very disingenuous that you have people that for generations talk about state rights and all of a sudden their talking about federal supremacy,” he said in a Cheddar interview Wednesday.
The Justice Department and immigration agencies this week sued California over its “sanctuary” laws, which prohibit local and state authorities, as well as private employers, from cooperating with federal immigration officers.
Sessions, who filed the suit Wednesday, said California’s policy threatens national safety.
Gascón, though, said the state doesn’t prevent immigration officials from going into California and doing their jobs. It’s simply not actively cooperating. He argued that immigrants are important to California’s social fabric and provide a “major economic engine.”
“I think that this is an administration that is failing on so many fronts, and what they’re trying to do is create another diversion,” he told Cheddar. “All of this is really a political stunt that is driven by very racist attitude and has nothing to do with public safety.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/inside-the-sanctuary-city-legal-battle).
Congress has passed a bill to fund the government for another week, giving lawmakers time to reach an agreement on a new coronavirus relief bill.
The final vote was 84-13, mirroring a similarly overwhelming margin in the House that, if maintained in both chambers, would be enough to override a potential veto.
Gun and ammunition sales have surged this year in the U.S. Michelle Castillo investigates.
Several states along with the Federal Trade Commission have launched lawsuits against Facebook for snuffing out competition through acquisitions. Cheddar's Michelle Castillo reports.
Stockton, California Mayor Michael Tubbs, started a pilot UBI program in 2019 that just got a big boost in funding from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
The number of people applying for unemployment aid jumped last week to 853,000, the most since September, evidence that some companies are cutting more jobs as new virus cases spiral higher.
Lawmakers are embracing a one-week extension of government funding to buy time for more COVID-19 relief talks.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong joined Cheddar to discuss the multi-state antitrust lawsuit against the social media giant Facebook even as the FTC filed its own legal action.
Rep. Jim Clyburn, the Democratic congressman from South Carolina, stood up for President-elect Joe Biden's Cabinet selections so far.
Deaths from the coronavirus in the U.S. have soared to more than 2,200 a day on average.
