- Edmundo Cuevas
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SACRAMENTO, CA – Today, the California State Senate voted to pass AB 1306 (Carrillo), the HOME Act (Harmonizing Our Measures for Equality), sending the bill to the Governor with a strong majority 29 vote count. AB 1306 would restrict the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) from transferring individuals leaving incarceration after achieving parole to Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), if they have also benefited from recent resentencing and compassionate release reforms. The bill enjoys support from a broad coalition of advocates, legislators, has no opposition and provides a straightforward solution to align state policy with existing criminal justice reforms that are already law.
“Today, with AB 1306, the HOME Act heading to the Governor's desk, the Legislature took a bold position to stop ICE transfers between CDRC and Immigration Customs Enforcement, ultimately ending the double punishment of immigrants whose convictions are the subject of criminal justice reforms already signed into law. It was never the intent of the Legislature to create a dual system of justice that treats immigrants differently and as second-class individuals. We now look to the Governor in putting a stop to this inhumane practice, which results in the indefinite incarceration of justice-impacted individuals when transferred to immigration detention centers to serve an additional sentence that is never handed down by a criminal court or a judge,” said Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles). “To add insult to injury, the recent ACLU study that uncovered the extreme lengths CDCR is willing to go in its efforts to turn immigrants over, further highlights the biased policies of the state that targets them. The crass reference uncovered in the study of putting ‘Mexican’ or ‘US Citizen’ in a hat and picking one to determine an individual’s future, while having documentation that the individual was born in California shows clear bias and discriminatory behavior that requires the legislature to act and demand accountability from the very top at CDCR.”
A Public Records Act investigation led by civil rights groups revealed previously unseen emails between CDCR and ICE, which involved labeling and referral policies created and implemented by CDRC to discriminate against people it believed were foreign born, including people born in the United States who seem foreign-born based on perceived race, ethnicity, or national origin.
“The evidence is clear that power in the wrong hands leads to a very clear corruption of our judicial system. We need the Governor to sign AB 1306 to prevent the well-documented abuse of CDCR from happening again, and to end this cruel extension of punishment. This fix in law will ensure the legislature’s intention of allowing uniquely affected Californians to return to their communities and families and rebuild their lives after serving their time, and will apply to immigrant Californians, as it should.”
AB 1306 falls in line with broadly established and supported state initiatives reducing mass incarceration and addressing racism in our justice system. The HOME Act would create parity for all Californians who earn release under these reforms.