California bills target private business to help immigrants

(AP) — California Democrats are expanding their efforts to resist President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigrants in the country illegally with bills aimed at limiting how much private businesses can cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

Immigration is among their key issues, but most legislation so far has been aimed at limiting what police can do to help immigration authorities and providing additional state services and support to immigrants in the country illegally.

A measure that would bar landlords from disclosing tenants' immigration status or reporting them to immigration officials passed the chamber.

Ann Morse, who tracks immigration bills for the National Conference of State Legislatures, said the California measures are the only ones she knows of that aim to limit landlords and private businesses' cooperation and communication with immigration enforcement.

Jith Meganathan, a policy advocate for the Western Center on Law and Poverty, said that following Trump's victory last fall, organizations that provide legal assistance to low-income Californians began receiving more reports of landlords threatening tenants over their immigration status.