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).
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is polling somewhere in the neighborhood of zero to one percent in most national polls, but she doesn't believe she can be counted out of the race with the first Democratic primary debates still looming.
REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK: Democratic presidential hopefuls descended on South Carolina Friday to meet voters and chow down at House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn's "World Famous Fish Fry."
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House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn focused on his district and uplifting rural communities with a plan to build up broadband infrastructure
Three years since the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) is working to strengthen the government's ability to track violence against the LGBTQ community in an effort to combat the enduring epidemic.
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Rising tensions with Iran and a oil refinery fire in Philadelphia are threatening to send prices higher at American gas pumps.
Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and other members of Congress want to question Facebook on its latest project launching a cryptocurrency called Libra.
Sen. Josh Hawley’s bill to hold major tech companies responsible for content published on their platforms is finding no love. The legislation, which is aimed to punishing tech companies for their supposed censorship of conservative voices, is being criticized by free speech advocates for potentially increasing censorship and by politicians from both sides of the aisle who view the bill as gross example of government overreach.
