Huntington Beach City Council votes to file lawsuit against California over sanctuary law

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- The Huntington Beach City Council met Monday night and decided the city will file a lawsuit against California over its sanctuary law.

The meeting started at 6 p.m. and the city is the latest one to join in the backlash against California's pro-immigrant policies.

The council considered a proposal to sue the state over the law, which limits the involvement of state and local law enforcement with federal immigration authorities. But the Trump administration said the law obstructs federal immigration enforcement.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors condemned the policy, choosing to be part of the DOJ's lawsuit against California. Earlier in March, Los Alamitos chose to opt out of the policy.

Huntington Beach council members believe state lawmakers are overstepping their authority.

"We hope that a majority of our colleagues will agree with Mayor pro-tem Peterson and I that we want the city attorney to file a suit against the state of California to exempt us from SB54. We're not going to be writing an ordinance, we're not going to be doing something like that. We're suing on the constitutional overreach grounds," Mayor Mike Posey said.

The council voted 6-1 in favor of filing the suit. Public comment was also done during the meeting, where many fiery comments in favor of the lawsuit were given.