The top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles is ratcheting up immigration enforcement in jails as the Trump administration looks for more ways to remove more immigrants from sanctuary cities.
U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli announced this week a pilot program dubbed “Operation Guardian Angel” intended to “neutralize” sanctuary state laws. The office identifies individuals with criminal records who have been deported and charges them with illegally reentering the United States, a federal crime.
The tactic focuses federal resources at the main place sanctuary rules have impeded the work of immigration agents — county jails and state prisons.
“Under the Trump Administration we will not allow sanctuary jurisdictions to stand in the way of keeping the American People safe,” Essayli posted on X in announcing the program.
State officials say they already cooperate with federal officials in regards to immigrants who have committed crimes.
“While the Trump Administration may seek to blame California as it grows desperate to deliver on its misguided, inhumane mass deportation agenda, immigration enforcement is and always has been the federal government’s job,” said a spokesperson for California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta.
The practice of prosecuting individuals for illegal entry was widely employed under the Obama and second Bush administrations, but fell out of use in recent years. The resumption of it could increase the number of immigration arrests in the region, experts say.
Essayli, former state assemblyman and the son of Lebanese immigrants, was appointed last month. He told Fox News he created a dedicated group of federal officials to comb through databases to identify jailed immigrants who had been deported. The new effort could yield dozens of charges every week.
The administration has been frustrated with California’s policy that prohibits local law enforcement from arresting someone solely for a deportation order or holding someone in jail for extra time so immigration agents can detain them.
Immigration officials in the past relied on local police to help them with enforcement, but over the last decade California and other states have increased protections for immigrants. The state scaled back its involvement in immigration enforcement on the streets and in jails, culminating in a 2018 law that ended the use of 287(g) agreements, which allowed local jailers to screen suspects for immigration violations.
Immigration activists argued those agreements eroded trust with the community and punished immigrants with minor infractions.
The Trump administration has aggressively pushed to revive such programs across the country as it attempts to make good on its promise of mass deportation.
“The days of giving criminal illegal aliens a free pass are over,” Essayli said in a statement. “While California may be presently disregarding detainers, it cannot ignore federal arrest warrants.”
There still is plenty of collaboration between state and federal immigration authorities.
Under the state law, California prison officials can transfer any inmate to immigration custody, but they do have to give the person a written notice. And police can notify immigration agents of someone’s release if they have certain convictions. Those include any felony that resulted in state prison, most other felonies on their record in the previous 15 years, and some high-level misdemeanors within the last five years.
President Trump has painted sanctuary cities as more dangerous, and much of his immigration agenda is framed around removing criminals. Experts say the rhetoric doesn’t match with reality.
“The foundational assumption is widespread immigrant criminality,” said Charis Kubrin, a criminology professor at UC Irvine. Her research and others show no connection between sanctuary status and crime.
“Immigrants do not commit crime at a higher rate than the native born, and immigration to an area does not cause crime rates to rise,” she said.
Essayli’s office stated that his office will file charges and seek arrest warrants so federal agents can “take as many defendants as possible into custody from state jails.”
In 2023 and 2024, federal prosecutors in the California’s Central District — covering seven counties including Los Angeles — charged a total of 17 individuals with illegal reentry following removal, according to the office.
Between Jan. 20 and May 1, the office charged 347 people with illegal reentry. In the first five days of the program that began May 10, 13 people have been arrested, which is actually a slower rate than the three previous months.
But even if the numbers ramp up, the program could run into a roadblock created by its own success, as the number of prosecutions mount.
“At the end of the day they will, they will run into … issues of capacity,” said Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute.
Staff Writer Andrea Castillo contributed to this story.
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