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Ronil Singh, a native of Fiji, had been with the Newman Police Department since July 2011, the sheriff's office said. He previously served with the Merced County Sheriff’s Department, according to a statement from California Gov. Jerry Brown.

Ronil Singh is survived by his wife and 5-month-old son, according to officials.

Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson did not hesitate to rail against the state's newly enacted SB 54 law, which is credited with making California a \"sanctuary state.\" The law, passed in October as a rebuke to the president's immigration policies, limits how much California law enforcement can cooperate with federal authorities like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“This is a criminal illegal alien with prior criminal activity that should have been reported to ICE. We were prohibited, law enforcement was prohibited, because of sanctuary laws, and that led to the encounter with Officer Singh,” said Christianson, who has worked with the president directly on immigration issues and appeared at an anti-sanctuary city roundtable in May.

President Donald Trump weighed in on the shooting on Thursday, before new details emerged about Arriaga.

\"There is right now a full scale manhunt going on in California for an illegal immigrant accused of shooting and killing a police officer during a traffic stop,\" he tweeted Thursday. \"Time to get tough on Border Security. Build the Wall!\"

ABC News' Jenna Harrison contributed to this report.

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