The Los Angeles City Council voted Friday to strengthen policies regarding the use of city resources for federal immigration enforcement.
The city council voted 12 to 0 to ask the city’s attorneys to write a new law prohibiting the use of city staff and resources for immigration enforcement. The law also prohibits the Federal Migration Service and other bodies involved in immigration enforcement from accessing city databases and other people’s personal data.
City councilors Bob Blumenfield and John Lee were absent from Friday’s vote.
LA’s proposal, which Congress called the “sanctuary city” law, would essentially codify existing policies, including: 2017 Executive Order It was issued by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti.
If passed, the law would be similar to San Francisco’s. The law prohibits city employees from using city funds and resources to assist the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in enforcing federal immigration laws unless required by federal or state law.
The city council said Friday that the Los Angeles Police Department’s Special Order 40, a police department policy prohibiting police officers from initiating contact with others solely for the purpose of learning their immigration status, and Garcetti’s 2017 “current gap.” It also requested a report detailing the Command. The city council also asked for reports on cases in which city officials assisted ICE.
These reports are intended to answer open questions about the city’s existing policies.
A motion the council voted on Friday includes a policy allowing ICE officials to access city prisons to interrogate people in LAPD custody. The motion also states that Los Angeles Police Department personnel will be permitted to transfer individuals to ICE custody even if no judicial warrant has been issued.
But on Friday, the LAPD challenged those allegations.
Lt. Anthony Otero, deputy commander of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Custody Services Division, said the LAPD does not allow ICE to enter LAPD jails to interrogate people. Otero also said the LAPD would not transfer people to ICE custody without a judicial warrant.
Describing the LAPD’s relationship with ICE, Otello said, ICE “will occasionally fax us evidence of people we have in custody. At that point, we follow police policy.” said.
The Los Angeles Police Department did not immediately respond to a request from The Times to explain its “policy.”
ICE declined to comment Friday on the “sanctuary city” proposal. A spokeswoman said the agency would not comment on the pending bill.
The “sanctuary city” motion was introduced earlier this year by city councilors Nitya Raman, Unis Hernandez and Hugo Sotomartinez. It was sponsored by City Councilmen Karen Price and Heather Hatt.
Several colleagues called for more clarity on city policy at a city council committee hearing on the motion in March.
Monica Rodriguez, a city council member representing the northeastern San Fernando Valley, said at the meeting that she was “baffled” by the suggestion that local governments were cooperating with ICE.
“But more important is the suggestion that the city has yet to adopt these principles,” she said.
Rodriguez also said at the meeting that the city’s policy on immigration had “unintended consequences.”
She said that when President Biden took office, the city tried to participate in the reunification of children separated from immigrant families, but that effort had to be left to Los Angeles County.
“The policies we adopted prevented us from participating,” Rodriguez said.
Senate Bill 54, California’s so-called sanctuary state law, passed in 2017. In 2019, the Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution declaring Los Angeles a “sanctuary city,” but the move had no legal effect.
At a meeting on Friday, Los Angeles attorneys drafted the ordinance with the backing of city council members, and it will be consulted again by the city council.
