Sacramento, California – Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty is working with state lawmakers to hold federal immigration officials more accountable when they use fatal force. He says that recent instances outside of California show a serious lack of monitoring.
His actions are a response to two deadly shootings in Minneapolis involving federal agents. These events have sparked an additional discussion over who looks into federal law enforcement when people are killed.
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On Monday, McCarty said he is working with state officials on a bill that would make it clear that the California attorney general can look into shootings involving federal agents working in the state on their own. He said that there are set review processes for local and state police, but the same rules don’t always apply to federal agents.
The drive comes after a U.S. Border Patrol officer shot and killed 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday. That shooting happened mere weeks after another deadly shooting in the same city, when a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good on January 7. Both deaths occurred amid Operation Metro Surge, which ICE has described as its largest enforcement action to date.
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McCarty said in a statement that the shootings show what may happen when the state doesn’t keep an eye on the situation. He used Minneapolis as an example of what might happen when federal law enforcement kills civilians without a clear, independent review mechanism lead by state authorities. McCarty says that California shouldn’t wait for a similar tragedy to happen before taking action.
McCarty, who used to be in the state Assembly, said the idea is to make sure that if something like this happened in California, the attorney general would have clear power to step in. He argued that giving that authority more power will make things more transparent, assist rebuild public trust, and make sure that all uses of fatal force are thoroughly looked into, no matter which agency is involved.
To move the proposal forward, McCarty is working with Jesse Gabriel, an Assemblymember from Encino who used to work with him and now leads the Assembly Budget Committee. On Monday, Gabriel said that he would file two separate legislation to defend the rights of those living in California when the federal government enforces immigration laws.
One of the proposed legislation would make it necessary for the attorney general to carry out an impartial, open, and complete inquiry every time a federal immigration official is involved in a shooting. The news release says that the measure is meant to make the investigation process clearer and more like the way state and local law enforcement personnel are evaluated.
The idea is based on Assembly Bill 1506, a measure that McCarty wrote and approved in 2020. It says that the attorney general must look into police shootings of unarmed people. McCarty said he favors extending the law’s principles to include federal agents, which he sees as a reasonable next step to fill a gap in oversight.
Gabriel and Assemblymember Juan Carrillo from Palmdale have proposed a second bill that would change how federal agencies work in the state. Supporters believe that law would stop ICE from using state-owned properties as staging areas for federal enforcement operations. This would minimize the state’s indirect involvement in acts that could raise civil rights concerns.
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The proposals are part of a larger effort by state and municipal leaders to make it clear that California is in charge of monitoring law enforcement action within its borders. McCarty added that the law is not meant to interfere with federal obligations, but to make sure that people are held responsible when their duties require using deadly force.
As the proposals move forward, lawmakers will likely talk about how far state power can and should go when federal agencies are working in the state. McCarty sees the tragic deaths in Minneapolis as a warning and a call to action to make protections stronger before something like that happens in California.
This is the full statement by Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty:
As a former member of the California State Assembly and Chair of the Public Safety Committee, I am proud of my work advancing police accountability and reform. In California, we strengthened independent investigations into police shootings with my legislation, AB1506 (2020), requiring the California Attorney General’s office to review police shootings involving unarmed people, increasing transparency and external oversight.
What we are seeing unfold in Minneapolis — where multiple shootings involving federal immigration agents have resulted in the deaths of local residents — underscores a serious gap in accountability when federal law enforcement uses deadly force without robust state oversight.
If a similar situation occurred in California, we must ensure that our laws give the Attorney General clear authority to pursue independent investigations even when federal officers are involved. Strengthening these powers would help guarantee transparency, build public trust, and ensure that all uses of force are thoroughly reviewed, no matter the agency involved. I look forward to working with Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, the legislature, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and the Governor to address this issue.