WATCH: California starts portal for complaints about ICE

By Dave Mason
The Center Square

On Wednesday, California launched a website portal for residents who believe they’ve seen unlawful actions by federal agents, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

The portal is oag.ca.gov/reportmisconduct. Residents can go there to upload photos, videos and information about interactions with federal agents, state Attorney General Rob Bonta told reporters Wednesday morning during a news conference in San Francisco. That’s where he also addressed Saturday’s unrelated mass shooting that killed three children and one adult at a child’s birthday party that 100 or more people attended in the Northern California city of Stockton. Law enforcement hasn’t identified a suspect or suspects.

Reports about federal agents at the new online portal will be treated as confidential, Bonta said.

“Over the last 10 months, we’ve seen troubling reports coming from communities across California, including unmarked military-style vehicles and individuals detained in ways that resemble abductions and kidnappings more than lawful arrests,” the attorney general told reporters. “Californians are scared, and they’re right to question whether federal agents are respecting the law as they carry out the Trump administration’s aggressive, fear-driven immigration agenda.”

Bonta accused the Trump administration of escalating enforcement not only to remove illegal immigrants but to stroke fear. He said families have become afraid to take their children to schools and that neighbors are afraid to open their doors.

“This is not what public safety looks like. This is not what justice looks like,” he said, adding that people should call 911 if they believe they’re witnessing a crime.

“Let me be clear: Federal agents can enforce federal laws, and no one should interfere with them doing their job,” he said. “But federal agents must also do so lawfully and in compliance with the Constitution.”

The Center Square reached out Wednesday to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for comment, but did not get a response before publication. Previously, the department has accused California officials of vilifying ICE agents and saying rhetoric that has led to a massive increase in assaults on officers.

Reporting potentially unlawful actions by federal agents doesn’t mean Bonta will act on a complaint, the Attorney’s General Office said Wednesday in a news release. By law, Bonta can’t represent private individuals or provide them with legal advice, research or analysis. That includes topics such as immigration proceedings.

But people can get referred to a lawyer by calling the State Bar of California at 1-866-442-2529 or going to the association’s website, calbar.ca.gov.

While taking questions from reporters, Bonta commented on an unrelated matter: the fatalities from the shootings in Stockton, a city of more than 300,000 people that is about 80 miles east of San Francisco.

California is not immune to gun violence, Bonta said, adding that the U.S. leads the world in firearms violence.

Bonta, though, stressed the state’s progress against firearm fatalities.

“California over the last 30 years has transformed and changed from being a state with one of the highest firearm mortality rates in the nation to one of the lowest,” Bonta said. “And it is because of our common sense, constitutionally compliant gun laws that have made us safer.”

He cited the state’s requirements for background checks and its 10-day “cooling-off period’ for gun purchases, as well as bans of high-capacity magazines and assault weapons.

“California is a blueprint for what the federal government should do,” Bonta said.

If the federal government and other states had laws similar to California’s, tens of thousands of lives would be saved, the attorney general said.