BY BRIAN HEWS
The ACLU filed a complaint last week against the city of Huntington Park for violating the Sanctuary Law by turning people who were arrested in the City to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.
The complaint stated that Huntington Park violated the California Values Act which restricts local law enforcement from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE.
The Huntington Park complaint centers around Jose Maldonado who was arrested in Huntington Park for public intoxication.
Maldonado was held overnight and when he left the station he was immediately picked up by ICE agents.
The complaint alleges that the Huntington Park police held Maldonado longer than necessary in a scheme to allow ICE agents to get to the jail on time and arrest Maldonado.
A recent study done by the ACLU showed that Huntington Park is a habitual violator of the Sanctuary Law; since January 2018, the ACLU found that 29 people have been transferred to ICE since January 2018.
In a statement, Hunting Park Police Chief Cosme Lozano wrote, “the department is assessing the ACLU’s claim, we are looking into our internal controls to ensure complete adherence to the California Values Act.”