National News

Orange County Backs Trump on Immigration

Don’t write an obituary for the Orange Curtain just yet. For years, it seemed that the demographic change in Orange County might push the suburban enclave to shed its image as a conservative island. And in 2016, voters chose a Democratic candidate for president for the first time since the Great Depression.

Posted Updated

By
JENNIFER MEDINA
and
THOMAS FULLER, New York Times

Don’t write an obituary for the Orange Curtain just yet. For years, it seemed that the demographic change in Orange County might push the suburban enclave to shed its image as a conservative island. And in 2016, voters chose a Democratic candidate for president for the first time since the Great Depression.

But now, political leaders there seem poised to reclaim their role as a counterpoint to much of the rest of California. On Tuesday, the county Board of Supervisors took two significant votes: One scrapped a previously approved plan to open temporary shelters for the homeless in the wealthy towns of Huntington Beach, Irvine and Laguna Niguel. In the other, the board voted to join a lawsuit from the Trump administration against California’s so-called sanctuary state law. Both votes from the all-Republican board were unanimous, though one member was not present.

Thousands of people had shown up to voice their views on the divisive policies. The vote to join the federal government’s lawsuit against the state came just days after the Los Alamitos City Council adopted a measure to exempt itself from the new state law that strictly limits communication between local law enforcement and federal immigration officers.

“We cannot let the state begin cherry-picking which federal laws it decides to follow,” supervisor Michelle Steel said in a statement after the meeting. Immigrant rights advocates called the vote “shameful” and said they were “scapegoating our own communities.” Other opponents reminded the jurors that Orange County was a leader in backing Proposition 187, an anti-illegal immigration measure that was later struck down by the courts.

The votes are not the only sign of backlash. Earlier this week, the Orange County Sheriff’s office said it would begin listing everyone scheduled to be released from jail on a public website, as a way to get around the state law restricting communication with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

It is unclear how the county will now deal with the hundreds of people it forced out of a homeless encampment along the Santa Ana River earlier this year, but county leaders say they expect local leaders to discuss options at a court hearing Tuesday.

Copyright 2024 New York Times News Service. All rights reserved.