Federal Court Enjoins Portions of AB 450

Sacramento Federal Courthouse

AB 450 was part of the "Sanctuary State" measures signed into law by Governor Brown on October 5, 2017. (The other measures were SB 54, restricting the sharing of information by law enforcement agencies, and AB 103, dealing with oversight of detention facilities). AB 450 imposed four restrictions on employers. Unless otherwise provided by federal law, employers:

1. Were prohibited from providing voluntary consent to an immigration enforcement agent to enter nonpublic areas of a place of labor unless the agent provides a judicial warrant.
2. Were prohibited from providing voluntary consent to an immigration enforcement agent to access, review, or obtain the employer’s employee records without a subpoena or court order, subject to a specified exception.
3. Were required to provide a current employee notice of an inspection of I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification forms or other employment records conducted by an immigration agency within 72 hours of receiving the federal notice of inspection.
4. Were prohibited from reverifying the employment eligibility of a current employee at a time or in a manner not required by specified federal law.

In March 2018, the U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the new laws in the federal district court in Sacramento. California moved to dismiss the lawsuit, and the Justice Department asked for a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the laws. Earlier this month, Judge John Mendez (1) granted a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of Items 1, 2 and 4 of AB 450, (2) denied the preliminary injunction motion as to Item 3, and (3) dismissed the portions of the lawsuit related to SB 54 and AB 103.

The district court has created a page on its website with links to the critical documents in the lawsuit, including these recent decisions. Access the page here.