united-states criminal-law police immigration
Can a U.S. citizen get into legal trouble if they tip off ICE as to the whereabouts of an illegal immigrant(s)?
<p>I would like to know if a U.S. citizen, especially for those living in California, can face criminal charges from local or state authorities if they contact ICE instead of the local police to report the whereabouts of an illegal immigrant(s).</p>

<p>For example, say that someone is at a gas station late at night pumping gas and a truck pulls in to a gas pump next to their car. As the truck's driver is pumping gas, the person hears voices coming from inside the truck. Now say that this person just happens to have the number for ICE on their smart phone and they immediately call it and report the truck model and its license plate number. The next day, the local news shows a story about how ICE had pulled over a truck which had a lot of illegal immigrants inside of it based on an anonymous tip.</p>

<p>Now, if an ICE agent being interviewed for this news story was to accidentally reveal the name of the person who had contacted ICE the night before, would that person face any criminal charges from local or state authorities for having contacted ICE instead of contacting the local police?</p>

<p>Can a U.S. citizen get into legal trouble if they tip off ICE as to the whereabouts of an illegal immigrant(s)?</p>

<p>It is illegal to threaten to report a person for violating the law (it is illegal to threaten a person). There are <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billCompareClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB54" rel="noreferrer">laws in California</a> that limit official cooperation with ICE investigations, therefore the police will not arrest a person for being an illegal immigrant. This is basically a limit on use of state and local resources, and the state has the power to control its purse strings. The state has no power to mandate that individuals not report a suspected or imagined violation of federal law to federal authorities, and there is no California law purporting to have that power.</p>
