The Pasadena City Council on Monday, April 6, directed the drafting of an ordinance to codify local limits on the use of city-owned property by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
City staffers presented a series of recommendations and proposed policies based on a previous City Council discussion on what Pasadena could do to limit federal immigration enforcement in its city limits.
Included in the recommendations was a policy limiting the use of city-owned properties including parking lots, vacant lots, garages and non-public portions of city facilities from being used as staging areas, processing locations or operations bases for ICE.
In a 7-0 vote, the City Council approved a motion made by Councilmember Rick Cole, which elevated that recommendation from a policy to an ordinance that will be brought back to City Council for consideration.
In February, the City Council unanimously approved a resolution that proposed limits on federal immigration enforcement activity in the city and asked city officials to return with a report on how best to implement those limits.
The measures focused on restricting the use of city and private property for ICE operations and increasing transparency, documentation and reporting of ICE activity in the city.
In addition, the city has created a website to provide immigration resources and is exploring other policies like requiring city contractors to disclose any contracts or agreements with the Department of Homeland Security.
The action comes after nearly a year of the Trump administration’s nationwide immigration crackdown. Federal officials say that crackdown — which had reached into Pasadena and other San Gabriel Valley cities — has resulted in tens of thousands of deportations. Trump and his administration say the result is a nation with a secure border and a purge of the nation’s “worst of the worst” criminal undocumented immigrants.
But for months, the high-profile immigration raids by armed, masked federal agents roiled local neighborhoods, where immigrants, many of them laborers, were detained at bus stops, car washes, food stands, hardware stores and construction sites. While officials say many were undocumented, they also say that many were not violent criminals that the administration had long pledged to purge. The raids stirred fear, anxiety and anger among local residents, businesses and leaders who saw families detatched from their breadwinners and local economies taking significant hits as many stayed home for fear of arrest.
Throughout Monday evening, city officials and council members weighed the option of standing up to what many say is federal overreach against another option of potentially putting city employees in danger of violating federal law and opening the city up to being a target of the federal government.
The city is in the process of ordering and installing signs at city-owned properties that say immigration enforcement staging, processing and operation is not allowed.
Councilmembers Tyron Hampton and Jason Lyon asked what teeth, if any, that signage would have and what recourse the Pasadena Police Department would have in citing or towing ICE vehicles in violation.
“I don’t think we’re there yet with this signage,” Lyon said. “It’s a nice message, but it’s largely performative.”
City Attorney Michele Beal Bagneris said federal agents conducting enforcement have broad protections that would not allow the city to step in without risking being in violation of federal law. The intent, Bagneris and other officials said, is to be able to document instances of federal violation of local statutes that could be used in litigation in the future against the federal government.
“I think it’s not prudent to really put our folks in a bad position where they could be federally charged and now we’re dealing with that set of circumstances,” Police Chief Gene Harris said.
Councilmembers Rick Cole, Steve Madison and Vice Mayor Jess Rivas strongly rebuked ICE’s actions nationwide, with Rivas and Cole describing ICE as not being a law enforcement agency due what they said was a penchant for lawlessness and violation of civil rights.
“I do not want to put our officers in harm’s way, I don’t want to put the city of Pasadena at harm’s way, but right now residents of our city are in harm’s way and I want to do everything I can to protect them,” Cole said.
During public comments, members of the public asked for the City Council to create ordinances around the recommended actions and be creative rather than performative in its response to ICE.
Cole’s motion also included the following items:-Referring an audit of the city’s land-use code to the Housing, Homelessness and Planning Committee to ensure no loopholes exist that would allow an ICE detention facility to be established in Pasadena.-Revamp the city’s immigration resources website to be more used friendly.-Ask the Community Police Oversight Commission to hold a public discussion with the police department about new policies related to immigration enforcement in the city.-Distribute know your rights materials throughout the city.-Explore whether local limits on immigration enforcement can be applied to the Pasadena Transit system.
“I would be one who would strongly urge to say let’s document, let’s preserve, let’s go later and enforce in court and try to change the rules that way and challenge the rules that way, as opposed to asking our employees to potentially violate federal law,” City Manager Miguel Márquez said.
Last week, the city announced the launch of the Pasadena Emergency Assistance Fund in partnership with the California Community Foundation. The fund is meant to support local families impacted by federal immigration enforcement activity. Last year, the City Council approved a $100,000 appropriation toward an immigration assistance fund.
The fund will support housing, rent, utilities, child or dependent care and legal services. California Community Foundation will distribute funds to local nonprofit organizations that will deliver the assistance to residents. The initial fundraising goal is $250,000.
As of Monday evening, more than $101,000 had been raised. To donate to the fund, visit pledge.to/pasadenafund.
Pasadena made that $100,000 commitment in the wake of an increase in ICE activity in the city in June 2025. On June 18 a group of men were taken by ICE agents at the corner of Orange Grove Boulevard and Los Robles Avenue.
Earlier this year, Pasadena Community Job Center Director Jose Madera was arrested by the Pasadena Police Department while Madera was observing ICE agents’ movements in the city.
The city declined to file charges against Madera.
Bagneris said Pasadena is party to four legal cases against the federal government and has filed an amicus brief in the birthright citizenship case. One of those cases originated from the ICE detentions that occurred in Pasadena.
“We are doing are part in joining litigation where other cities have not,” Gordo said. “Sometimes it’s a small group, sometimes it’s a larger group, but we’re certainly making our voice known.”
Monday’s meeting was streamed was live on YouTube.