Goble told Fox News Digital he was informed during a February 2025 meeting with San Diego-area Homeland Security<\/a> officials that federal authorities had a list of unaccompanied migrant children, including 52 with addresses in El Cajon. He said federal officials asked whether local police could help “ensure these kids are safe” through welfare checks, prompting Goble to seek guidance from Bonta\u2019s office before dispatching officers.<\/p>\n I’M A MAYOR TRYING TO FOLLOW LAW BUT CALIFORNIA IS MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR COPS<\/a><\/p>\n “It\u2019s kind of hard to imagine why they\u2019re choosing this hill to die on,” Wells told Fox News Digital. “What they basically want to say is, ‘Because our narrative is so important, and protecting illegal aliens<\/a> is so important, that, yeah, if a few kids get sex trafficked along the way \u2014 you know, you’re just making this up. You’re just using this as a way.’ I mean, these are real people. These are real children. I think it’s an incredibly insensitive argument.”<\/p>\n California’s sanctuary state policies have come under legal scrutiny by one Southern California town that says it has unaccompanied minors needing to be checked on, but law enforcement’s hands are tied due to state-level policies preventing them from making the welfare checks. In this photo, migrant children can be seen trying to get across the border (left), next to an image of California Attorney General Rob Bonta (right). (Getty Images)<\/p>\n Goble had asked Bonta\u2019s office in a March 2025 letter whether local police could conduct the checks using contact information provided by federal authorities, writing that the city wanted to ensure all children were safe “regardless of citizenship or resident status.”\u00a0<\/p>\n In the letter, Goble cited the inspector general’s concerns that unaccompanied minors are at heightened risk of trafficking, exploitation and forced labor, and wrote that “time is of the essence” in determining whether the children were safe.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Bonta\u2019s office responded in a June 2025 letter, warning that local law enforcement pursuing wellness checks “alongside or based on information provided by federal immigration authorities” could implicate conduct prohibited by SB 54<\/a>, known as the California Values Act.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bonta’s letter said these violations could include if officers confirmed location information provided by ICE, or reported the results of the check back to federal immigration authorities.<\/p>\n But Goble told Fox News Digital that the city was not asking police to act as immigration agents, but primarily wanted to confirm whether the children are safe.<\/p>\n CALIFORNIA TOWN WITH LARGE MIGRANT POPULATION MIGHT REVOKE SANCTUARY STATUS<\/a><\/p>\n “All I care about is, is the kid safe?” Goble told Fox News Digital. “I don\u2019t care the immigration status or citizen status of anybody else in the room.”<\/p>\n Unaccompanied children were found at the U.S. border in Texas. (Texas DPS)<\/p>\n The welfare-check dispute is one piece of a broader legal challenge El Cajon filed against Bonta on April 28, 2026, seeking relief from California\u2019s sanctuary policies<\/a> impacting how local law enforcement do their jobs, including SB 54, the TRUST Act and the TRUTH Act. In a May 20 motion for a preliminary injunction, the city asked the court to temporarily block Bonta from enforcing those laws against El Cajon while the case proceeds, arguing the policies are preempted by federal immigration law and put local police in the position of choosing between state restrictions and federal obligations.<\/p>\n The May 20 injunction motion specifically cites the Goble-Bonta exchange as an example of how the city says California\u2019s sanctuary laws prevent El Cajon officers from engaging in “basic public safety work.” The filing argues that the state\u2019s legal framework forces officers to spend time navigating “legal hairsplitting” instead of responding quickly to public-safety concerns, including checks on children in the community.<\/p>\n “Every time an El Cajon police officer<\/a> steps out onto the street, they\u2019re going to be breaking one of two laws,” Wells said to Fox News Digital. “They\u2019re either going to be breaking federal law or they\u2019re going to be breaking state law. And you cannot put police officers in that situation.”<\/p>\n BLUE STATE COUNTY FACES BACKLASH AFTER FAILED VOTE TO SCRAP ‘SUPER SANCTUARY’ POLICY: ‘FRINGE DEMOCRATS’<\/a><\/p>\n El Cajon\u2019s lawsuit is not limited to the welfare checks. The April 28 complaint broadly asks a San Diego County court to declare California\u2019s sanctuary restrictions invalid and to stop Bonta from enforcing them against El Cajon police.<\/p>\n El Cajon police officer Stephen Hannibal works his new dog Ace at the El Cajon Police Department on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 in El Cajon, CA. (Eduardo Contreras \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Bonta’s office’s June 2025 response said it “share[s]” El Cajon\u2019s concern for children who may be at risk of harm, but suggested county social service agencies may have a role when there is no evidence of criminal activity requiring law enforcement.<\/p>\n Wells and Goble pushed back on that argument; however, arguing Bonta’s suggestion ignored San Diego County\u2019s<\/a> December 2024 vote restricting county resources from being used to assist federal immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n “That means we\u2019re not going to let our social service workers go do welfare checks on unaccompanied minors for the Department of Homeland Security,” Goble told Fox News Digital. “It\u2019s another rock and a hard place.”<\/p>\n EX-BIDEN OFFICIAL’S CAMPAIGN FACES HEAT AS MISSING CHILDREN SCANDAL RESURFACES: ‘VOTERS DESERVE BETTER’<\/a><\/p>\n Wells added that it was difficult to accept Bonta\u2019s suggestion that county agencies could serve as a neutral fallback for welfare checks tied to information from federal authorities. “This is the same county we would be deferring to, to check on these kids,” Wells added. “They\u2019re not neutral. They\u2019ve been very, very clear.”<\/p>\n Immigrant-rights advocates nationally have warned that ICE “welfare checks” on unaccompanied migrant children can function as immigration enforcement<\/a> under the banner of child safety. The Young Center for Immigrant Children\u2019s Rights has called the Trump administration\u2019s ICE “wellness checks” harmful enforcement “in disguise,” while other advocates have warned that DHS visits can discourage sponsors from coming forward or expose families to deportation fears.<\/p>\n But Wells and Goble rejected that framing, arguing local police could check on children without reporting immigration violations discovered during the visit.<\/p>\n “That doesn\u2019t make us federal immigration officers,” Wells said. “It just means that our officers could do their job like they\u2019ve always done in the past before this unconstitutional law of SB 54<\/a> was passed.”<\/p>\n ![\"California](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/rob-bonta-unaccompanied-minors.jpg\")
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