These California cities and counties are on the DHS list of ‘sanctuary jurisdictions'

The Department of Homeland Security released a list of more than 500 “sanctuary jurisdictions,” including cities and counties in California, that the agency has placed on notice that President Trump's administration views them as obstructing immigration enforcement.

In its news release listing the locations throughout the country, the DHS said the list includes cities, counties, and states that are "deliberately and shamefully obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration laws." Jurisdictions on the list will receive formal notification that the government has deemed them noncompliant and if they're believed to be in violation of any federal criminal statutes.

“These sanctuary city politicians are endangering Americans and our law enforcement in order to protect violent criminal illegal aliens," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a press release.

The Trump administration has repeatedly targeted communities, states and jurisdictions that it says aren't doing enough to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement as it seeks to make good on President Trump's campaign promises to remove millions of people in the country illegally.

The list includes 48 of California's 58 counties and dozens of cities, including Los Angeles, Long Beach, Pasadena and West Hollywood.

In November, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to declare LA a sanctuary city, prohibiting city resources from being used for immigration enforcement. LA is home to more than 1.35 million immigrants, according to the city, roughly 34 percent of the city's population.

The measure also prohibits Los Angeles officials and agencies from directly or indirectly sharing data with immigration authorities.

Los Angeles County has not adopted a formal sanctuary county resolution, but was among the jurisdictions on the list.

"While Los Angeles County has not formally declared itself a sanctuary jurisdiction, the County is proud of its long-standing commitment to human rights and to ensuring that all residents, regardless of immigration status, are treated with dignity and respect," the county said in an emailed statement to NBCLA. "The County is committed to ensuring that County services and locations are accessible to everyone in our communities. The County has and will continue to comply with applicable federal law as we support our residents through policies that enhance public health and safety."

Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties also appeared on Friday's list.

The city of Pasadena said Friday it is aware of the list, but had not received "any formal notification from DHS."

The city of Long Beach, which also has not formally declared itself a sanctuary city, provided a lengthy statement calling the executive order that directed DHS to compile the list broad and vague.

"The Executive Order defines sanctuary jurisdictions broadly and vaguely as those that 'obstruct' federal immigration enforcement, without identifying specific policies or actions that would meet that threshold," the city said. "Today, Homeland Security posted the list of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions on its website. The list includes the City of Long Beach. Although the City has never declared itself a 'sanctuary' jurisdiction, it has been included on the federal list without prior notice or explanation. The criteria or investigative process used to make this designation remain entirely opaque. The website accuses the identified jurisdictions of 'Defying Federal Immigration Law,' undermining the rule of law and endangering the lives of Americans and law enforcement. The website provides no information that supports these conclusions.

"Immigration in our country is clearly spelled out in federal law as a federal responsibility. The laws regarding immigration are passed nationally and the enforcement is handled at a national level. Immigration enforcement is not a job of local law enforcement, and our Long Beach Police Department is not an arm of federal immigration agencies."

Orange County was not on the list published Friday.

Huntington Beach also appeared on the list, but the city council adopted a resolution in January declaring the seaside Orange County community a non-sanctuary city. It's appearance on the list was "either a misprint or a serious mistake," the city said.

"We adopted a formal policy on this," Mayor Pat Burns said. "It went before the council, and we unanimously agreed that Huntington Beach is not a sanctuary city. We took deliberate action to make our non-sanctuary stance clear."

California cities and counties on the DHS 'sanctuary jurisdictions' list

Below, a list of cities and counties in California that appear on the DHS list published Friday.

Counties

• Alameda County
• Amador County
• Butte County
• Calaveras County
• Colusa County
• Del Norte County
• El Dorado County
• Glenn County
• Humboldt County
• Imperial County
• Lake County
• Lassen County
• Los Angeles County
• Madera County
• Mariposa County
• Mendocino County
• Merced County
• Modoc County
• Mono County
• Monterey County
• Nevada County
• Plumas County
• Riverside County
• Sacramento County
• San Benito County
• San Bernardino County
• San Francisco County
• San Joaquin County
• San Luis Obispo County
• San Mateo County
• Santa Barbara County
• Santa Clara County
• Santa Cruz County
• San Diego County
• Shasta County
• Sierra County
• Siskiyou County
• Solano County
• Sonoma County
• Stanislaus County
• Sutter County
• Tehama County
• Tuolumne County
• Trinity County
• Tulare County
• Ventura County
• Yolo County
• Yuba County

Cities

• Alameda
• Albany
• Arcata
• Baldwin Park
• Belmont
• Benicia
• Berkeley
• Calipatria
• Cathedral City
• Chula Vista
• City of San Rafael
• Coachella
• Concord
• Culver City
• Davis
• El Cerrito
• Emeryville
• Eureka
• Fort Bragg
• Fremont
• Fresno
• Hayward
• Healdsburg
• Huntington Beach
• Huron
• Imperial
• La Puente
• Long Beach
• Los Angeles
• Madera
• Malibu
• Martinez
• Maywood
• Menlo Park
• Mountain View
• Newark
• Oakland
• Pacifica
• Palm Springs
• Pasadena
• Petaluma
• Pleasanton
• Represa
• Richmond
• Sacramento
• Salinas
• San Diego
• San Francisco
• San Jose
• San Leandro
• San Luis Obispo
• San Pablo
• Santa Cruz
• Santa Rosa
• Santee
• Soledad
• Stockton
• Union City
• Ventura
• Vista
• Watsonville
• West Hollywood
• Williams

How the 'sanctuary jurisdictions' list was compiled

The list was compiled using a number of factors, including whether the cities or localities identified themselves as sanctuary jurisdictions, how much they complied already with federal officials enforcing immigration laws, if they had restrictions on sharing information with immigration enforcement or had any legal protections for people in the country illegally, according to the department.

Trump signed an executive order on April 28 requiring the secretary of Homeland Security and the attorney general to publish a list of states and local jurisdictions that they considered to be obstructing federal immigration laws. The list is to be regularly updated.

Federal departments and agencies, working with the Office of Management and Budget, would then be tasked with identifying federal grants or contracts with those states or local jurisdictions that the federal government identified as “sanctuary jurisdictions” and suspending or terminating the money, according to the executive order.

If “sanctuary jurisdictions” are notified and the Trump administration determines that they “remain in defiance,” the attorney general and the secretary of Homeland Security are then empowered to pursue whatever “legal remedies and enforcement measures” they consider necessary to make them comply.

There's no specific or legal definition of what constitutes a “sanctuary jurisdiction.” The term is often used to refer to law enforcement agencies, states or communities that don't cooperate with immigration enforcement.

ICE enforces immigration laws nationwide, but often seeks state and local help in alerting federal authorities of immigrants wanted for deportation and holding that person until federal officers take custody.

One way that the administration seeks to enlist state and local support is through 287(g) agreements with local law enforcement agencies. Those agreements allow local law enforcement agencies to assume some immigration enforcement duties and greatly expand ICE's capabilities. The number of those agreements has skyrocketed in just a matter of months under the Trump administration.

ICE has about 6,000 law enforcement officers — a number that has remained largely static for years — who are able to find, arrest and remove immigrants it is targeting. By relying on local law enforcement, it can quickly scale up the number of staff available to help carry out Trump's mass deportations agenda.

Communities that don't cooperate with ICE often say they do so because immigrants then feel safer coming forward if they're a witness to or victim of a crime. And they argue that immigration enforcement is a federal task, and they need to focus their limited dollars on fighting crime.

“Sanctuary policies are legal and make us all safer,” said a coalition of local officials from across the country and a nonprofit called Public Rights Project in a statement Thursday. They said the list was a fear tactic designed to bully local governments into cooperating with ICE.

The Trump administration has already taken a number of steps targeting states and communities that don't cooperate with ICE — and has met with pushback in the courts. One executive order issued by Trump directs the Attorney General and Homeland Security Secretary to withhold federal money from sanctuary jurisdictions. Another directs federal agencies to ensure that payments to state and local governments do not “abet so-called ‘sanctuary’ policies that seek to shield illegal aliens from deportation.”