El Cajon Sues California Attorney General to Block Enforcement of Sanctuary Laws

The City of El Cajon filed a lawsuit against California Attorney General Rob Bonta on April 28, 2026, asking a San Diego County court to declare the state’s sanctuary restrictions invalid and to bar Bonta from enforcing them against city police. The complaint targets three statutes: SB 54, also known as the California Values Act, the TRUST Act, and the TRUTH Act.

On May 20, 2026, the city filed a motion for a preliminary injunction that would temporarily stop Bonta from applying those laws to El Cajon while the case proceeds.

The motion cites an exchange between City Councilman Steve Goble and Bonta’s office. In a February 2025 meeting, San Diego-area Homeland Security officials told Goble that federal authorities had identified 52 unaccompanied migrant children with addresses in El Cajon.

Goble sent a March 2025 letter asking whether local officers could conduct welfare checks using contact information supplied by federal authorities.

Bonta’s office replied in June 2025 that such checks could violate SB 54 if officers confirmed location data from ICE or reported results back to federal immigration authorities. Goble told Fox News Digital the city was not asking police to act as immigration agents. “All I care about is, is the kid safe?

I don’t care the immigration status or citizen status of anybody else in the room,” Goble said. Mayor Bill Wells said the legal conflict leaves officers in an untenable position. “Every time an El Cajon police officer steps out onto the street, they’re going to be breaking one of two laws,” Wells stated.

Wells and Goble noted that San Diego County’s December 2024 vote bars county social-service workers from assisting federal immigration enforcement, removing another option for welfare checks. Bonta’s letter suggested county agencies could handle checks when no criminal activity is evident, but city officials said the county’s policy prevents that route.