Regions surrounding Biola, including Orange County, Fullerton and Buena Park have made movements to reject California’s status as a sanctuary statefor immigrants.

AN INNER CONFLICT

California passed Senate Bill 54 last April to offer protections to those facing President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. The legislation includes provisions prohibiting local law enforcement from assisting federal authorities in carrying out immigration enforcement, according to CNN. The Trump administration remains engaged with the state over the policy, and California has turned against itself over it.

The city counsel of Los Alamitos voted to denounce and opt out of the legislation on March 20, spurring other cities to follow suit. The four representatives on the Orange County Board of Supervisors, all of them Republican, have also voted against the state’s decision, according to the Washington Post.

Officials from Fullerton and Buena Park have also pledged to pursue similar motions, according to the Orange County Register.

STUDENTS SHARE PERSPECTIVES

Senior journalism major Aili Acone-Chavez contributed to a chapter on sanctuary cities in the student-authored book “Beyond the Wall: Migrants, Migration, and the Border.”

“I think that sanctuary cities are awesome, I think that we need them. I have a lot of frustration toward some of the changes in immigration policies because people that were on the right track to completing all of their prerequisites, if you will, to become citizens, now there have been very drastic measures that have been taken to… deport them or things like that. And I feel very strongly that this is unjust,” Acone-Chavez said.

While sophomore kinesiology major Raymond Kam does not usually involve himself in politics or discussions about immigration, he believes the proximity of the tension makes the issues more pertinent.

“It’s definitely heartbreaking because if I were in [immigrants’] shoes, then how would I feel? So, to know that’s real life and that it’s happening really close to us, it’s not just a news on a story but you can go down the street and see it actually happening,” Kam said.

As California faces conflict with the federal government as well as with its own cities and counties, Acone-Chavez believes one should seek both unity and necessary objections.

“I think it’s important to have both, to dissent when necessary but to also respect other people as valid individuals and human beings that are on their own process,” Acone-Chavez said.