On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council approved a “sanctuary city” ordinance that bars city resources from being used for immigration enforcement and city departments from sharing information on people without legal status with federal immigration authorities, in anticipation of potential mass deportations under President-elect Donald Trump, the Associated Press reports. Councilmembers voted unanimously on the measure, joining more than a dozen cities across the United States with similar provisions. “We’re going to send a very clear message that the city of Los Angeles will not cooperate with ICE in any way,” said councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. “We want people to feel protected and be able to have faith in their government and that women can report domestic violence, crimes.” Soto-Martinez, one of the council members who introduced the initial motion last year, said his parents and many of his constituents are immigrants without legal status. They are “embedded in the larger community,” from cooking and cleaning houses to working as nannies, he said.
But it’s unclear how much will change under the ordinance since the city already does not cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The Los Angeles Police Department has a policy mandating that officers not inquire about a person’s immigration status or make arrests based on legal status. Its new police chief Jim McDonnell has also pledged not to cooperate with mass deportations work or federal agencies on immigration enforcement issues. Former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti issued an executive directive in 2019 that offered protections to immigrants, but Tuesday’s ordinance would codify those protections into city law. The state of California has similar protections. Former California Gov. Jerry Brown signed sanctuary state legislation in 2017 to bar police from asking people about their immigration status or participating in federal immigration enforcement activities. Then-President Trump responded by attempting to withhold funding from sanctuary cities and favor cities that pledge to cooperate with immigration enforcement for federal grants.
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