Ninth Circuit upholds California's sanctuary law SB 54 under the anticommandeering doctrine

A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld California's SB 54 on April 18, 2019, ruling that the state law limiting local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities does not conflict with federal law. Circuit Judge Milan Smith wrote that California has the right under the Tenth Amendment anticommandeering doctrine to decline to use state resources for federal enforcement. The ruling established that states may refuse to participate in immigration enforcement without legal penalty, while remaining free to volunteer participation through 287(g) agreements.