By JOSE HERRERA
The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday, Nov. 19, will consider adopting a “sanctuary city” ordinance to prohibit any city resources or personnel from being used to help federal enforcement of immigration laws.
Last week, City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto in partnership with Mayor Karen Bass released the draft ordinance, formally making it public for the first time after it was called for more than a year ago.
Council members Hugo Soto-Martinez and Monica Rodriguez, who chair the council’s Civil Rights and Public Safety committees, respectively, waived the matter of their jurisdiction, expediting a vote on the issue by full council.
The move comes as President-elect Donald Trump made border security a mainstay of his campaign and promised to deport people who are in the country illegally.
If the council approves the ordinance, it would set up a likely battle with the incoming Trump administration.
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
With Trump set to take office in January, L.A.’s immigrant communities are bracing for his promised crackdown on undocumented migrants. While the city of Los Angeles has prohibited the use of its resources from assisting federal immigration authorities in past years, a sanctuary ordinance would formally codify such policies.
Former Mayor Eric Garcetti issued an executive directive in 2019 that offered protections to the immigrant community. Additionally, the Los Angeles Police Department mandates that its officers not inquire about immigration status or make arrests related to a migrant’s legal status, which is outlined under Special Order 40.
In part, the proposed sanctuary ordinance would enshrine such protections in the city’s books.
The ordinance would also prohibit “any city resources, property or personnel from being utilized for any federal immigration enforcement,” as well as city cooperation with federal immigration authorities in “execution of their duties” as it pertains to immigration enforcement.
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Newly appointed Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell has said the department would not engage in immigration enforcement. He has remained steadfast in that position.
Following a ceremonial formality where Bass swore in McDonnell as the 59th chief of police, he repeated: “And so, my assurance is we’re not in that business. We will not be doing any of the things that people are worried about recently. And we’ll work forward with an open dialogue with … concerns, we want to hear them and we want to address them quickly so the rumors don’t get started, we don’t see panic in some of our communities. That’s the last thing we want and need.”