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Immigration Laws Show Shift in California Governor's Priorities

California lawmakers say that with the state's fiscal crisis over, Jerry Brown is more amenable to helping them craft immigration laws he will support.

Tom Ammiano was frustrated.

Gov. Jerry Brown had refused to meet with him, said the Democratic assemblyman from San Francisco, to talk about the Trust Act. Ammiano had proposed it to prevent immigrants in the U.S. illegally from being turned over to federal officials for possible deportation when arrested by local authorities.

Eventually, Brown skewered the measure with his veto pen, saying the bill was "fatally flawed" because it might have let some serious criminals escape deportation.

That was last year. This year, things were different. Ammiano said the two had multiple meetings in Brown's office, where they discussed its threadbare carpet, their shared Roman Catholicism — and the Trust Act.

Daniel Luzer is GOVERNING's news editor.
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