On the heels of signing the most sweeping anti-deportation bill in the nation, California Jerry Brown has signed legislation blocking ”the creation of any so-called Muslim registry should President Trump choose to act on a proposal he repeatedly suggested during his 2016 campaign.” The California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA) hailed the bill, authored by one of the state Senate’s most leading pro-immigrant voices, as a "momentous victory”:
Senate Bill 31 by state Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) bars state and local governments from releasing personal information to the federal government for the creation of any religious list, registry or database. It also prohibits them from using resources to create their own lists.
Dubbed the California Religious Freedom Act, the bill coasted through the legislative process this year, the only proposal to gain bipartisan support from a package introduced by majority Democrats to counter Trump's policies.
In authoring the bill, Lara cited an NBC News interview in which Trump, then a presidential candidate, said there "should be a lot of systems," beyond a database, that track Muslims in the country.
As the Los Angeles Times notes, it was just a year ago “that Trump surrogates referenced Japanese internment camps from World War II as ‘precedent’ for a Muslim registry,” and since his poorly attended inauguration, Trump has stuck to his deplorable campaign promise by issuing three legally shaky bans so far on Muslims trying to enter the U.S.
In a large rally earlier this year, CAIR and more than 700 Muslim-Americans gathered in Sacramento to urge legislators to prioritize the legislation, which was also supported by Asian Americans Advancing Justice-California, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) California, and others. As the numerous Muslim bans have shown, Trump is intent on furthering his anti-Muslim attacks, but this bill is an important first step.
"We applaud Governor Brown's commitment to preserving the civil liberties of all Californians," said CAIR-CA’s Yannina Casillas. "Today, California took a proactive stance in protecting the civil liberties and religious freedoms of all Californians. With the signing of SB 31, Californians know that our great state will stand up to any federal policy that targets vulnerable communities."