California mayor seeks legal aid as he vows to aid Trump admin in deportations while bucking Newsom’s sanctuary state laws

Bill Wells, mayor of El Cajon, which lies around 20 minutes outside of San Diego, said in a video posted Monday, "There’s a lot of talk about sanctuary cities and the sanctuary state of California. I want to make it clear right now that El Cajon is not a sanctuary city. We’re going to do everything we can to work with the federal government to help ease this immigration problem, help solve this problem."

Wells said that the problem his city is facing is that "California law says that if a police officer does his duty that we’re asking him to do by complying with the federal government, that police officer can be charged with a felony and lose his pension,” adding, “So that puts us in a really serious situation because it basically takes frontline police officers and puts them in the middle of this political crisis, this political argument between the city, the state, and the feds."

"I just want you to know, we’re working on this problem. I’m getting legal opinions; I’m reaching out to organizations to help give us legal assistance in fighting the state of California. I’m going to fight the state of California tooth and nail over this," Wells said, adding that he is doing "everything [he] can to make El Cajon part of the solution of this horrible immigration problem and not be used by the state of California to circumvent federal law.”

He asked that those who want to help the fight contact state lawmakers, including Newsom “and tell them that you do not want to be part of being a sanctuary state and that you will rise up, like the rest of the nation has done, and throw these guys out of office if they don’t comply."

Trump has vowed to implement mass deportations under his second term in the White House, appointing former ICE Acting Director Tom Homan to serve as the Trump administration’s border czar. Homan has told cities and states that are refusing to comply with the Trump administration’s plans that he’ll do the job "with or without you."

In 2017, when Newsom was lieutenant governor, the state signed into law Senate Bill 54, which prohibits California cities and counties from cooperating with federal immigration officials in enforcing deportations and federal immigration law.