SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers will approve legislation supported by Gov. Jerry Brown to spend $3 million in state money to provide legal help for unaccompanied immigrant children from Central America, Democratic leaders announced Thursday.

Making the money available is “the decent thing to do and it’s consistent with the progressive spirit of California,” Brown said in a statement.

He announced the plan along with Attorney General Kamala Harris, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins and the Latino legislative caucus, all Democrats.

Because Democrats control both houses of the state Legislature, they will not need Republican support to pass the legislation. The move could give Democrats a boost with Latino voters in the November election.

Brown said during a recent trip to Mexico that the estimated 57,000 unaccompanied children who have been caught crossing into the U.S. illegally since Oct. 1 present a humanitarian challenge.

Atkins said some lawmakers visited detention centers in Ventura County this summer.

“I think we all came away with a feeling that these kids really needed our support, that it was about their safety, their due process, the ability to look beyond bigger political considerations and deal with the humanitarian crisis,” she said.

Atkins said the money would go to nonprofit groups that offer help to immigrants and would come from savings in the Assembly’s budget. The funds will be included in bills to be taken up next week.

Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, said the proposed legislation will prompt discussion of the appropriate role for California in the immigration issue. Republicans will need to review the legislation, which was not yet written on Thursday, before deciding whether to support it, he said.

Republicans in the state Assembly also declined to comment on the proposed legislation, but spokeswoman Amanda Fulkerson said they hope to work with Democrats to ensure children’s rights are protected.

The legislation will also give state courts the jurisdiction to make findings needed for federal officials to grant special immigrant juvenile status to the minors. It will be labeled as urgent, and officials hope the money can start going out within two or three weeks.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates there are about 3,900 unaccompanied minors in California.

“We’re not sending the National Guard to confront these children as other states have done,” said Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Watsonville, vice-chairman of the Latino legislative caucus, taking a jab at Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s decision to deploy troops to the Texas-Mexico border.

Alejo, an attorney by training, said children are more likely to be deported if they do not have legal representation. He said immigration law is complicated and requires specialized knowledge.

• Politics & Government
• Government
• Jerry Brown
• California

By Brad Poole

TUCSON Ariz. (Reuters) – Federal officials have denied an undocumented immigrant’s application to remain in the United States, leaving her to live in sanctuary, and legal limbo, at a southern Arizona church.

Rosa Robles Loreto, a homeowner and housekeeper who has lived in Tucson since 1999, took sanctuary at the city’s Southside Presbyterian Church on Aug. 7 after an appeal of her deportation case was rejected.

She was set to be deported the following day, and since then she has been living at the church with her husband, Gerardo, and their 11- and 8-year-old sons. All four are Mexican citizens living illegally in the United States.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said on Monday it will not close her case nor grant her a stay of deportation, though it does not intend to arrest her.

“After conducting a thorough review of Ms. Robles Loreto’s immigration case, ICE has decided to exercise prosecutorial discretion by not taking immediate action on (her) removal order,” the agency said in a statement.

The announcement leaves Robles Loreto in legal limbo.

She is still under an order of removal and could be deported, if she were to be caught by local police and turned over to Border Patrol agents. The church plans to continue to fight on her behalf, said Pastor Alison Harrington.

The church does not provide any legal protection for Robles Loreto but gives her a personal sanctuary as she continues her legal battle. ICE policy bars arrests in sensitive areas unless there is a threat to public safety or national security.

“We will continue to ask ICE to issue a stay of removal for Rosa Robles Loreto until the agency fully understands that thousands of Tucsonans, faith leaders and elected officials have or are preparing to act on behalf of this super-achieving mother and community member,” Harrington said.

Robles Loreto has been fighting deportation since she was identified by ICE officials after a traffic stop, detained by Border Patrol agents and later released, said her attorney, Margo Cowan.

She appealed the deportation order, arguing that she has deep ties to the United States, including her family, a job, and a home she owns. She asked Southside Presbyterian for help after ICE rejected her appeal.

The latest ICE rejection “signals a broader tendency to undermine the principles articulated by the Obama administration,” the church said in a statement, referring to a 2011 memo from then-ICE Director John Morton that made many non-criminal immigrants with longstanding ties to their communities a low priority for deportation.

Cowan said Obama had made it clear on several occasions that people such as Robles Loreto should not be deported.

“We ask the administration to reconsider their decision and grant Rosa a stay of removal or deferred action,” Cowan said.

(Reporting by Brad Poole; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Jim Loney)

• Immigration Issues
• Politics & Government