Will Santa Ana Relaunch an Advisory Group to Strengthen Immigration Protections?

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Santa Ana City Council members publically assured residents that metropolis officials won’t cooperate with the national migration crackdowns amidst rising fears that undocumented radical volition beryllium deported.

Officials made it wide Tuesday nighttime that metropolis constabulary officers volition not enactment with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers connected what’s known arsenic immigration detainers.

It comes arsenic Huntington Beach moves successful an other absorption – vowing to enactment with ICE and suing the State of California implicit the statewide sanctuary law.

[Read: Huntington Beach Disregards California’s Sanctuary Laws, Directs Police to Work With ICE]

Santa Ana City Council members’ nationalist reassurances travel aft Councilwoman Jessie Lopez asked her colleagues to relaunch a radical made up of migration rights organizations that erstwhile elected officials called for aft they declared Santa Ana a Sanctuary City astatine the extremity of 2016.

[Read: Santa Ana Looks to Boost Immigrant Protections Amid Federal Crackdown]

City Manager Alvaro Nuñez said that helium volition enactment with the metropolis lawyer to guarantee compliance with the sanctuary metropolis ordinance and enactment with unit to bring backmost a connection based connected recommendations from assembly members.

“I’ll enactment with the metropolis lawyer to marque definite 1 we comply with the ordinance arsenic indicated, and 2 that we travel up with an attack that sticks to, again, not conscionable the existent connection of the ordinance, but the tone of the ordinance also,” Nuñez said astatine Tuesday’s meeting.

Will an Advisory Group beryllium Formed?

It is unclear what precisely volition travel backmost arsenic immoderate officials raised concerns the radical would beryllium duplicative of different metropolis commissions and disquieted that the radical would beryllium taxable to unfastened gathering laws and perchance enactment undocumented residents successful danger.

Councilman Phil Bacerra said the metropolis already has the Police Oversight Committee that could code fears sparked by President Donald Trump’s migration crackdown.

“Now successful these precise tumultuous times, our full community, careless of their migration status, needs spaces and venues to supply meaningful input to our constabulary and to this assembly and I’m precise arrogant of the information that we are providing those,” helium said.

The city’s Police Oversight Committee hasn’t met since October – with 3 of their past meetings being cancelled.

Lopez pushed for her petition and said a Sanctuary Policy Advisory Group made up of migration rights experts is captious and the metropolis won’t suffer thing by having existent information to pass their determination making.

“We indispensable proceed to enactment with trusted, experienced organizations that person been successful this combat from the beginning, organizations that person proven to prioritize the needs of our residents,” Lopez said.

“This assembly has a duty, a motivation and ineligible responsibility, to bash everything successful its powerfulness to support our assemblage and abide by the connection successful our ordinance.”

Mayor Valerie Amezcua, City Councilman David Penaloza, City Attorney Sonia Carvalho and Nuñez said they couldn’t find immoderate accusation astir the Sanctuary Policy Advisory Group and questioned if it ever existed.

Former Deputy City Manager Robert Cortez on with erstwhile Police Chief David Valentin scheduled meetings with the radical successful 2018, according to calendars connected the metropolis website.

Valentin’s February 2021 calendar besides shows him gathering with the group.

“This radical existed whether radical knew astir that oregon not,” Lopez said. “I deliberation portion of the crushed wherefore unit can’t find thing is due to the fact that of each of the turnover successful the metropolis manager’s office.”

[Read: After City Hall Shakeup, Where Does Santa Ana City Hall Go From Here?]

Roberto Herrera, an organizer with Resilience OC who spoke successful favour of the group’s return, besides said helium was a subordinate of the Sanctuary Policy Advisory radical astatine the gathering and his sanction is listed connected radical meetings with Cortez and Valentin.

Penaloza said different metropolis committees tin code migration concerns.

Councilwoman Thai Viet Phan said organizations tin stock information straight with the metropolis manager’s bureau that tin assistance officials fortify migration policies without having a ceremonial group.

Councilmembers Johnathan Hernandez and Ben Vazquez said they enactment enactment of an advisory radical made up of experts to assistance urge policies based connected data, but said the radical should not oversee the city’s money to assistance immigrants combat deportation successful court.

Hernandez said the process to find a ineligible work supplier for the money should beryllium unfastened to bidders, adding that the advisory radical and the money should screen each undocumented communities.

“I privation to guarantee that we grow outreach to communities who are presently not being serviced earlier moving guardant with immoderate process that results successful granting the existent supplier the afloat declaration amount,” said Hernandez.

According to a new study by the Harbor Institute For Immigrant & Economic Justice, 91% of Vietnamese-born residents successful the OC Sheriff Department’s custody were transferred to ICE – a complaint higher than radical calved successful different countries successful the Sheriff’s custody.

The study recovered 228 radical successful the Sheriff’s custody were transferred to ICE past year, with 39% being from Mexico and 32% from Vietnam.

Protests, Rumors & ‘Know Your Rights’ Education

Tuesday’s gathering comes connected the heels of caller protests crossed the state and successful Southern California – including successful Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Los Angeles successful the past mates of days against Trump’s wide deportation plans.

It besides comes aft scores of students successful Santa Ana walked retired of their schoolhouse Tuesday successful protestation amid a rumor that Mayor Valerie Amezcua was cooperating with ICE – thing she denied astatine Tuesday’s gathering and connected Facebook.

Fermin Leal, a spokesperson for the Santa Ana Unified School District, said successful a substance connection Tuesday that the territory does not person a number for however galore students walked out, but that it was a tiny percent of mediate schoolhouse and precocious schoolhouse students.

School territory committee members passed a resolution successful December reaffirming that territory unit volition not cooperate with ICE.

Meanwhile, metropolis officials accidental determination has besides been a big of rumors that Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids person been carried retired successful the city.

Police Chief Robert Rodriguez said they person not confirmed immoderate of the alleged ICE sightings successful Santa Ana arsenic of Tuesday.

“If they were successful our city, they don’t ever report, oregon don’t person an work to study to section municipalities that they’re successful our city,” helium said.

Amid the protests and rumors, officials and nonprofit organizations are holding events and putting retired accusation to amended radical connected their rights arsenic undocumented residents.

OC Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento is hosting a virtual assemblage forum connected Monday Feb. 10 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. astir migration rights with translation disposable successful Spanish and Vietnamese.

Santa Ana officials person besides launched a Know Your Rights section connected the city’s website with wide accusation connected migration rights on with links to migration resources similar the OC Rapid Response Network.

Will Other Local Law Enforcement Agencies Cooperate With ICE?

Last month, the Trump medication indicated the U.S. Department of Justice could probe section officials for not cooperating with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau (ICE).

Officials successful Santa Ana, Anaheim, Irvine and Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes person said they volition travel authorities law.

[Read: How is Orange County Going to Handle Trump’s Immigration Crackdown?]

At the authorities level, Attorney General Rob Bonta said astatine a quality league past period that the California Department of Justice volition enactment if cities garbage to comply with the state’s Sanctuary Law – which forbids section instrumentality enforcement from cooperating with ICE.

Penaloza said that each 1 connected the metropolis assembly was “standing connected the shoulders of immigrants” and that officials are committed to keeping and ensuring Santa Ana is simply a sanctuary city.

He besides directed metropolis unit and the constabulary main to proceed the city’s sanctuary efforts .

“Stay the course.”

Hosam Elattar is simply a Voice of OC newsman and corps subordinate with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him astatine helattar@voiceofoc.org oregon connected Twitter @ElattarHosam.

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