ORANGE COUNTY BOARD MEMBER: We joined lawsuit against California because the state isn’t right.

Shawn Nelson, a Republican member of the Orange County board of supervisors, said on Sunday that California is trying to prevent the county from keeping its citizens safe.

Orange County recently joined the Justice Department in a federal lawsuit against California that opposes the state’s “sanctuary” laws.

California last October signed legislation making California a “sanctuary state” in part by blocking local law enforcement from complying with federal immigration officials on detainment requests for immigrants in the country illegally.

“What California’s law is requiring is our sheriffs not even cooperate, which is resulting in people that have committed crimes ending up on the streets of every county, but certainly Orange County,” Nelson told “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace. “We got involved because we don’t think that’s right.”

“We are tired of the state trying to use these arguments to prevent us from keeping the citizens safe,” Nelson added.

Sacramento’s state-sanctioned lawlessness is incompatible with a republican form of government.