Assemblyman Jones' Office Admits to 'Minor Mistake' on Crime-Immigration Bill

In his latest "Are You Kidding Me" series, which points out legislation Assemblyman Brian Jones finds outlandish, Jones singles out AB 4, also known as the TRUST Act, but his office failed to get all the facts right about the law.

The proposed law would not allow law enforcement to comply with a request by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain a person in the United States illegally unless the person has been convicted of certain serious crimes. 

A statement about the law released by Jones' office Tuesday claimed that the law fails to mention some serious crimes including human trafficking, exploding a destructive device to terrorize, solicitation to commit murder, and child abuse likely to result in great bodily harm. However each crime is in fact part of the bill.

Jennifer Bell, Jones' communication director, called the misstatement a minor mistake on her part. 

"While the crimes listed in the press release were inaccurate, Assemblyman Jones’ 'Are You Kidding Me' video segment and quote in the press release remain factually correct prior and post to the bills most recent amendments," she said. 

AB 4 was approved in the state assembly May 16 and is currently being considered by the California State Senate.

"These aren't our friends or neighbors. These are people who have been sent to jail for crimes," Jones said. "I know one thing for sure: We can't trust the liberals in Sacramento to uphold the rule of law."

Some crimes still not mentioned in the law include some felonies, Bell said.

A bill proposed by Jones earlier this year would have added additional crimes to the list of those that would require a person be detained up to two days for ICE officials and those considered "three strike" crimes.

"There are still numerous crimes that do not meet the statutory definition of serious felony or violent felony that are nonetheless serious and/or violent and this is the basis for Assemblyman Jones’ concerns," she said.

La Mesa Police Chief Ed Aceves said he doesn't have any opinion one way or another about the proposed law since La Mesa complies with the law and takes into custody anyone who commits a crime and leaves immigration enforcement up to the federal government.

"As a regular practice, immigration issues belong to ICE and not our local police agencies. So it's really just following what our general practices are anyway. It's not really going to impact us much if we did that," he said.

San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore has not shared his opinion on the most recent version of the bill. Gore opposed a previous version of the bill that was considered last summer, according to U-T San Diego. The previous version of the bill was vetoed by Governor Jerry Brown since certain violent or sex crimes were not included.

San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne endorsed the latest version of the TRUST Act earlier this month in part to restore trust lost as part of the Secure Communities program that allows law enforcement to detain people in the country illegally.

"The 'Secure' Communities program has diminished trust in our immigrant communities of local law enforcement," Lansdowne stated in a letter to Brown. "It is my opinion that 'Secure' communities program has reduced the number of victims and witness in immigrant communities and thus made our communities less safe."

A bill proposed by Jones earlier this year would have added additional crimes to the list of those that would require a person be detained up to two days for ICE officials and those considered "three strike" crimes.

Assemblyman Jones represents several communities in San Diego's East County including La Mesa, Santee, Lakeside, Ramona and Southern Riverside County.