TRUST Act (AB 4)

The TRUST Act (AB 4 – Ammiano) became law on January 1st, 2014 and limits local jails from holding people for extra time just so they can be deported. County jails can no longer respond to requests to hold individuals solely based on their immigration status, unless certain conditions are met. Even then, local law enforcement always has the discretion not to use local resources to detain immigrants for extra time. The TRUST Act ensures that, as of January 1st, people with most low-level, non-violent offenses (misdemeanors) are not wastefully held for deportation purposes. At the same time, the law allows detention of people with felony convictions and  of those charged with felonies under certain circumstances. It also allows detention for people with a number of higher level misdemeanor (or “wobbler”) convictions within the past 5 years, and for certain federal criminal offenses.

 The TRUST Act addresses the harmful impact of California’s participation in the federal government’s controversial “Secure Communities” (S-Comm) deportation program, which has led to the deportation of over 90,000 individuals in California. The law will begin to repair relationships between the immigrant community and local law enforcement and limit the use of local resources to detain immigrants. It provides essential safeguards for public safety, community policing and civil liberties. The TRUST Act is a statewide minimum standard, and local jurisdictions can and should go farther to limit to harmful impact of S-Comm and detention of immigrants in local jails.

The ACLU of California was a sponsor of AB 4, along with four other organizations, and is now working on implementation of the new law.

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ACLU Applauds Gov. Brown for Signing the TRUST Act