Senate Leader: 'Half Of My Family' Eligible For Deportation Under Trump Order

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A Los Angeles lawmaker leading the fight to make California a so-called "sanctuary state" has suggested half of his family would be deported for using falsified Social Security cards and other fake identification.

California Senate Leader Kevin de Leon made the claims during testimony before the Senate's Public Safety Committee for SB54, a bill introduced by De Leon that would create a statewide sanctuary for immigrants living in the country illegally.

Responding to President Trump's suggestion of "withholding federal funding" from California, de Leon said: "Half of my family would be eligible for deportation under the executive order, because they got a false social security card, they got a false identification, they got a false driver's license prior to us passing AB 60, they got a false green card, and anyone who has family members who are undocumented knows that almost entirely everybody has secured some sort of false identification."

"That's what you need to survive, to work," he added. "They are eligible for massive deportation."

Some reacted to the senator's statement by calling for authorities to further investigate de Leon's claims.

In a statement released Monday, de Leon did not reference his comments to the Public Safety Committee, instead opting to criticize Trump's reaction to SB54.

"President Trump's threat to weaponize federal funding is not only unconstitutional but emblematic of the cruelty he seeks to impose on our most vulnerable communities. Taking such irresponsible action would hurt our senior citizens, children, farmers, and veterans – these are not political games, these are real lives the President is targeting", said de Leon.