Hoping to make the City of Angels a true “sanctuary city” for immigrants, three members of the Los Angeles City Council have proposed legislation to turn into permanent law an existing policy that prohibits city staff from taking part in, or using city resources to aid, any federal immigration enforcement activity.
Former Mayor Eric Garcetti issued an executive directive in 2017 limiting the city’s involvement with federal immigration agents. Later, the City Council passed a resolution declaring L.A. a “City of Sanctuary.” Rules for how L.A. deals with immigration authorities are also outlined in policies set by the Los Angeles Police Department.
But unless these policies are codified into law, they’re subject to the whims of future city officials and could be scrapped.
So on Tuesday, March 7, Councilmembers Nithya Raman, Eunisses Hernandez and Hugo Soto-Martinez introduced a motion that would direct the city attorney to draft an ordinance prohibiting any city resources, property or personnel from being used for immigration enforcement or to cooperate with federal immigration authorities in that context — to the extent allowed by law.
Raman immigrated to the United States at age 6, and Hernandez and Soto-Martinez are both children of immigrant parents.
“Symbolic gestures are not enough. Internal policies that can be changed from one day to the next are not enough,” Hernandez said during a news conference Tuesday morning outside City Hall. “Our families deserve safety and security. They deserve to go to work, to take their children to school, without fear that they will be separated from their families.”
L.A. is home to more than 1.35 million immigrants – just over a third of its population, and the majority of students in the L.A. metro area have at least one immigrant parent, according to the motion the councilmembers introduced Tuesday.
But they and immigrant rights advocates say many families live in fear of deportation, and that…
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