The California Senate passed a bill on Thursday that blocks local police from referring a detainee to immigration officials for deportation unless that person has been convicted of a violent or serious felony, reported news agency Reuters. The California Trust Act is now called “Anti-Arizona” bill because it shields immigrants from status checks by local police and challenges Republican-backed immigration crackdowns in Arizona and other states in the United States.
The measure is aimed at blunting federal immigration enforcement, in particular the Secure Communities program, under which fingerprints of arrestees are shared with immigration officials who issue hold orders, reported Los Angeles Times.

The bill has the backing of about 100 immigrant rights groups, police chiefs and mayors. It has already passed the Democrat-controlled state Assembly in a 47-26 vote and will go back to the Assembly for a concurrence vote following the summer recess before heading to Democratic Governor Jerry Brown.
The measure seeks to create a national model to counter what backers say is racial profiling inherent in a part of Arizona’s crackdown on illegal immigration that was allowed to stand by the U.S. Supreme Court last week.