. tonight, the u.s. department of justice sues california over immigration laws. and thef findings a five-monthqe k investigation in to what went wong during the deadly wildfires, with he parents deported and detained, a student must get along on her own. hello and welcome to kqed nooseroom, i'm thu vu, u.s. torney general jeff sessions unched a lawsuit over the immigrati immigration.

sessions spoke about the lawsuit in annual gathering of the california peace officers associationn sacramento. >> california absolutely appears to me is using every power it has, powers that itoesn't have, to frustrate federal law stop protecting law breakers and giving ourer off more dangerous work to do, so thats politicin score political points on the backs of officer safety. i can't accept that. >> governor jerry brown and state attorney general fired back. >> this is really unprecedented for the chief law enforcement of the united states to come out to california and act more like fox news than a law enforcement officer. this is a political stunt. it's not about the truth. it's not about protecting our state. it's about dividing america.

>> california is in the business of public safety. we are not in the business of deportations. >> joining me now to discuss this more is of the california peace officer's association. you were in the room when attorney general jeff sessions made the announcement. what was your reaction to the lawsuit he talked about? >> it was a mixture of both sowhat of an antication knowing how the federal administration, the president's administration, viewed what was going on in california, especially regarding immigration. so, it was not a total shock, 00 i think for the nearly cops in the room, they were interested to find out where they may be c potentiallyght in the middle with this lawsuit and potentially any injunctions filed. >> so, what in geneell was if g in the room, would you say it was a tepid sponsor an

embrace of the lawsuit? >> i think it was a bit of probably more on the tepid side. i think folks were -- there's a lot ofuncertain questions to be answered regarding what role cal law enforcement plays in this whole battle, if they play any role. because obviously, we are focused on just the folks that te coming crimes that are in the county jail system, especially one of the bills that was covered in the lawsut has to as b-54 relates to. i think there were questions that people were hoping for answers to. >> it limit hads cooperation by local, lawnforcement officers with federal authorities on immigration. your group represents sheriff's deputies and officers, and law enforcement. you feel you are caught in the

meda middle. can you expand oes that? >> we don't make the laws, we just enforce them. our me iers, so, think they were going about doing their business to adhere tosb-54 and now that there's a court battle inlved, i think there's questions about where does the local law enforcement stop and where do the feds take over. and it may be a challenge as we know,y that o all the way to the u.s. supreme court and while we are in limb we are interested to see where it goes. >> how do you do you given the uncertainty around it? >> it's tough, wicn an o you know, takes an oath to be a peace officer, they are sworn to uphold theut federal constin and the california constitution. right now, with the questions still out in the air, there's a suggestion tt mr. sessions made to kind of, you know, delay implementation ofsb-54 until

the suitg is red out. so, i think the conversppions are ing right thousanow, and we want to be a partrs of the convions about how to keep the community safe. in the future, those are conversations that have to happen. > when sb-54, you and others came in against it. others are saying that sanctiuay laws are for reporting crimes without fear of being deported, how do you feel about that? >> yes, everyone wants crimes to be reported wn they happen to obtain the best picture of what crimes are happening in california. we want them to bert re. for the sb-54 argument, our intere has been the focus of the folks in the county jail and

sb-54 set limitations of where we can have conversations with our federal partners regarding those who have committed certain crimes. our real inrest has been on that bill and the attempt -- and e attempt to restrict those communications with the basis was the initial opposition of the bill. >> and jeff sessions said that the raid endangered the lives o out there and law enforcement officers. where do you stand on wh the mayor did?t >> i dohink our folks tonight have a view one way or the other, the safety concerns were more on the i.c.e. agents. i'm sure that we are now performing the raids. in terms ofe any t you are approaching a home or serving a warrant, you don't i know wha on the other side of the door. i think there's always safety concerns of any time that you are going to out in the

community, what is unexpected. it's more of what happened in akland, it's a concern and a fight for federal law enfor enforcement than the local officers. >> thank you for talking to uses. >>ury plea, thank you. >> now, for reaction, and anurther ysis, scott schafer is next. >> thanks, our san francisco chronicle reporter john h garafolli e with us, thank let's start with you, this lawsuit this week from the department of justices against california governo brown, how unusual is it for the federal government to sue a state? >> it's done from time to time. obama's administration sued

north carolina a. the case is highly relevant to what we will be talking about today. >> and since you bring it up. let's talk about that. the to sides of the debate, the state is saying, look, thenth amendment says we can make the decisions of how we allocate resources in law enfoement and federal government is saying you cannot interfere with thefe ral law enforcement. how does it break down? >> on the one side, the 10th amement, you cannot be forced to enforce federal law. and on the other end we can't, the state of california, can't obstruct the lawful implementation of federal law. there's ways the federal government can ask for nd cooperation a entice cooperation through grants. for the california legislation, have they gone over the line and gone to the obstruction side of

things? >> and let's talk about political risks and rewards. there were a few minutes that went by after sessions spoke inboxweek that i got in my a fundraising pitch and donald trump sent out a pitch as well. how does it affect both in the individuals named? >> the newsome pitch was great. he bragged about being called an emrrassment. he said if jeff sessions the not like me, then i'm dng right, donate here, most important. the professor will tell us, the legal case could take years to figure out a go through the court system. but the political impact could be fel in the mid term elections. so and the affect of this will contribute to increasing fear in immigrant communities who are already freaked out that i.c.e. will come knocking at the door. and that's going to,kn you ow,

likely charge the latino vote and it's going to help mo rats. latinos vote 80% in california. >> in california. >> in california for democrats. so, it's going to be helping democrats and hurting republicans, who are impotent in california already as we know. >> there's a special election in pennsylvania and the dynamics are different. there's abl repcan incumbant that is getting a tough challenge from connor lamb that t the seat. run does it play out differently in a place like that? >> yes, it does, i grew up it wn pennsylvania and i know the area well. that is trump territory. and so, but that race is very ose. like too close to call at this point. but immigration is not a major issue here -- >> the tariff is more important. >> yeah, e to thection than immigration. the -- they have twodi ces.

one is in california that will help democrats and trump and sessions are playing to the rest of the country that is certainly to the red states. >> and one of the big problem for democrats is a, turn out is ou in elections and latinos tend to punch below -- you are saying perhaps this will change that? >>t's one in a series of things that could juice the la a -- latino turn-out. it's part of a narrative that is getting the immigrant community and those who are, love them, out to the etlls. >> talk about the word "sink we anctuary," it came out in the '80s when there was dictator ships around the world, how well do you think reporters of sanctuary policies are doing in explaining what it is, and what

it isn't? >> i think not very well. when you hear sanctuary, y are implying more than what is true in the cases. the old testament type thing. get to the right city and you are safe. lit's note this with these cases. when you are talking about sanctuary cities or state, it's all about how mh cooperati will the state and local officials provide to the federal government, to i.c.e. when i.c.e. wants to enforce federal law and really all the places are saying, is they will not cooperate until they have to r like iponse to a warrant. >> do voters understand it either of you? >> the republicans are seizing upon it, one of the guys running for governor john cox, and sessions came to visit, he put out a radio ad saying it' the beral elite of the bay area and the sanctuary cities. it's a right and wrong thing the people that came to the

country illegally broke the law. that is it, black and white and that's how they are playi cg to theservative base. >> interestingly, ithbumped in o press person for the assembly leader, and he said,e e elling everyone to not siny any. er f-- for them, they feel it's no advantage to them. they are just letting it play out and they don't see it helping them at all. >> the folks runng for governor, they are trying get 41% of the vote in the primary. that's how manyeople were expected to cast ballots for republicans, that how they appealed to the conservative base. >> one of the people that found themselves in t middle of this is oakland mayor, and they are looking to see if she obstructed justice. what kind of a cases do you think they have or could build? >> i on't think they have a case, she issued a general warning. let's suppose she did not doe i

called a couple employers and said, you know, you people might want tok call in s tomorrow and the day after. i won't tell you why, but. it was a different thing that she said. generalized warning and you may have noticed that melinda hague the former u.s. attorney for the northern district of california has volunteered to represent her pro bono if the justice department wants to oceed. but i don't see that she is committed a crime. politically, you will have anotherpinion. l,gal hadly not l-- legally not. >> first of it's 7% republicans in oakland, my home city. yeah, she does not lose political points on that in fact she raised her stature in the bay area. if she runs statewide later that may be differestory, but who knows. >> how many federal grants could you think -- >> she did get criticism fm th mayor of city council who may want to run again. >> no matter had what libby

does, she will get something from the this. some blow-back. >> david, you referred to how quickly this could be pushed through the courts. it's in the sacramento district cou court. how quickly do you think it wl move? >> faster than people expect. the justice department has asked for a preliminary injunctions. >> explain that is this. >> a preliminary injunction is if a party says they think they have a strong probability of n the merit and the can make a claim for irrepairable injury, they can seek the procedures to be expedited and it's immediately appealable. i think we are looking at probably getting it to the u.s. supreme court this fall. and perhaps we will see a decision march/april. >> quickly, trump is coming nex week, what do you expect? you going to roll out of the the

red carpet? >>yes. you expect thousands of protesters saying, it will be the woodstock of ptestor the environmental community and, immigration communitiny. everyto the left. >> and good for ratings on cable tv no doubt. >> wounderful. >> thank you both very much. >> now, an update on the north bay wildfires that broke out last october, killing 44 people. the latest reporting found wide-spread failures in the state and local emergency response systems. calls for eevacuation gid not out until it was too late joining me now with more on what they found, our politic and government reporter and our criminal justice reporter. than you to you oth.

>> thank you for having us. >> you both spent five months investigating what happened with the fire, what were the most serious problems that you uncovered? >> i think as you mentioned the delays when, between firstrs responould see on the ground that there was really, really seriousha disaster pening and people needed to be evacuated and when the alerts went out to people. it was th last lesson being learned from this, there needs to be a better mcthod of munication for the public, a better way to alert them when fire is bearingown onheir homes. >> and to her point. d napa count not call homes and tell people to evacuate until the next day, it was notm just aer on of hours, the next day is a long delay. >> yes, and i think tha gets to issues of training as well, that they had the different alert technologies in napa county that is different than what they have in sonoma county and the fire is

crashin boundaries and the people sending out of the the alerts did not know how tot sen m out properly and who they were targeting when they sent them out. >> and how did the gaps in communication affect residents as they were trying to figure out what was going on, where to go, what to do? >> one of the big lessons is again, what happens when you call 9-1-1 and do they have the ability to t l you where togo, how to flee. for example, we ske to a family up, te diseas -- the dia the dad called 9-1-1 from the neighbor and they could not tell them that the fires were bearing down, he asked which way do we go, two options, this wayer or that that way, they didn't . that's something that we heard again and again. we partnered and i put out public record requests and in addition to the eevacuation delays, the other big thing that we learned was that part of the reason they were so overwhelmed

and when i say they,he dispatchers who were getting the calls, the 9-1-1 operators that were getting the calls from the public and the firefighters and police on the ground is because a lot of fireske had b out way earlier in the day because of the high winds and other conditionsnocking down power lines. so, by the time that 9 or 10:00 is rolling around and the fires are hitting napand sonoma, they have officers out responding to the smas,er incidennd there was a cascading affect. >> so expand on that, it was brought up the electrical power failures the equipment wn,a arcing power lines. how did all of that create additional challenges fors firefightnd electric fires get top priority. why is that? >> because they are so dangerous, you know, a sparking power line i deadly. and so, firefighters can't even

rstartcuing people or putting out fires if there's a downed power line or a electrical issue involved with it, so, they have to wait f pg&e, the local utility here, to shut down the power remotely o send out a lineman to deal with the they canl issue before begin dealing with the fire issue, let alone evacuating people that are threatened by the fire. it creates the built in lag time. ansthen, also, had what happening is there were so many of the electrical issues because of the way the grid s. it was like power line goes down, that power has to go somewhere else. it gets rerouted and it was overloading the other lines, and then causing transformers to explode, that were creating more fires, it was like, again, a cascading affect of electricalu i causing more electrical issues, taking down more of the power grid. >> so the couy officials, did they consider asking pg&e to shut off power. that is standard procedurer in southern and eastern stateshen hurricanes occur.

? right, and it's something that i think california is grappling wite have seen in southern slifornia, cal fire, thete firefighter agency that is dealing on the ground with a lot of stuff. they ask the utilities down there to do sethis. becf deadly fires. and in this case, cal fire, and nortalifornia said it was not our procedure, we didn't even think to ask them. it'snot historically been the way we operate and i think that gets to the idea that we want to make theoit, that active responders were heroic that night. ngey were all wor in overwhelming conditions and did everything that they could to save lives. and the system failed them. this reliance on this is procedure and this is the way we do it, did notllow them to change procedure as fast as the fires of moved.so now, cal fire and pg&e are in conversations with statela rers to have the conversations, you know, turning off power comes with risk of its own with people with medical devices and street lights go out, it could hamper other

rescue efforts, in seemse case, with the winds and all of the conditions happening, that they really sould have considered that at least. >> so, we are talking a lot about a equipmen differences in alert systems, but some of it cameown to just on the spot decision making and part ofyo wt talk about earlier, the delays in texts and alerts going out, was based on the thought by county officials well if they put it out too soon, ic could se panic, people will flee, they will clog the roand people will be stranded as the fires approach. what is being done to address that? because we are having a new norm now with climate change and severe weathe patterns, we are seeing more and more severe fires. >> yeah, and i thin,nk ag that's one of the big lessons that we are eing with things p being put in to affect. they did not use the wireless alert. sonoma were worried about the

clogged roads and did notutut one in the thomas fire, they use sem. the statepped in and said, we will do it and overrode the county. and i think changes at the federal level to how they work will help them be more effective. >> we have 30 seconds what are the things to pevent it from happening again? >> we mentioned the utility, pg&e isooking at shutting down power prentatively, and i think the lessons that are being learned in the fire are finally being elevated to the state level, so they are talking about new state level standards in terms of requiring people to have, requiring counties to have a certain level of alerts h s i place before the next disaster strikes. >> great work, good investigation, thank you both. >>hank you. >> thank you. >> and amid the news of immgration raids and detentions, we take a look now at what happens to family

members that are left behind. our next story is about a high school senior, jennifer bravo. >> it all started at the ihop in lodi. >> i remember we were eating t was a normal day. we were going to go to church, and then we were going to go visit santa cruz for the first time as a family. >> as i wareversing out of the parking lot, i hear a knock on my window and i look up and i see the i.c.e. badge of like an officer. so, then, i look over like i realize that there was like twon officers in f of the car, two behind the car and then there was an officer to my mid's of the car. immediately in my head, i thought that she waoing get deported like no doubt about it. and all i remember is my brother and sister crying in the back seat and i just thought to myself, like, what am guyii goio

do. i have two little kids to take care of, how do i take care of thesewo little kids when i'm 16 years old myself. >> she is a high school senior, and u.s. citizen but her parents are not. jennifer is one of 5 million american kids that have undocumeed kids and hundreds of thousands that have been separated from a parent by de ntion. her father was deported when she was 12 to ne m. herher who was previously arrested for a dui was appren apprehended a year ago. since then she has seen her twmother in person ce. her younger siblings are with relatives and she is staying with her boyfriend's famill w her mother is detained in a detention center in bankersfield. >> i know,mom.

okay, bye. >> you have seen a lot of situations where you have parents that are undocumented and at the same time, u.s. citizen children. so, it's the system is doubly failing them. her father was already deported unjustly, did not get to speak to anrn aty. just one day he was picked up and next he was gone. and now, shes kind of being retrauma ti retraumazed by that whole thing. >> jennifer has attended all of her mother's hearings in san francisco, this tshe got the rare chance to see her mother by video teleconference. >> after a year in detention, jennifer's mother has another

court hearing next week. jennifer hope this is time, she will be released. >> and that will do it for us, you can find more of our coverage at kqed po i'm thu vu, thank you.

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