Congressman Lou Correa has offered quiet advice to city officials in Santa Ana, Orange County’s only sanctuary city, on how to deal with an unprecedented focus by federal officials on immigration enforcement.
“I told them to keep their head low,” Correa said in a phone interview last week.
He confirmed what Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Amezcua publicly quoted him saying as she scolded other Santa Ana City Council members who were critical of revelations that Amezcua, City Manager Alvaro Nuñez and Police Chief Robert Rodriguez misinformed residents about federal immigration enforcement efforts in local neighborhoods.
“Don’t bring attention to yourself,” is what Correa told me he advised to several council members, including Amezcua.
Since January, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, along with Homeland Security officials, visited numerous places throughout the city.
[Read: Have Santa Ana’s Police Chief & City Manager Been Up Front With Residents About ICE Activity?]
At the 5:30 p.m. meeting tonight, city council members will consider directing the police department to notify residents of federal immigration enforcement activity in the city.
Correa said Trump Administration officials are stepping up a fear campaign after unremarkable deportation numbers compared to previous administrations, with the hope that it motivates undocumented residents to self-deport, spurred by the fear of ending up in an El Salvadoran prison.
It’s all happening in a Latino majority town, with an estimated 41% of Santa Ana residents born outside of the U.S.
Attracting Too Much Attention?
Correa – a Democrat who is one of Orange County’s most senior members of Congress – is also worried about potential budget impacts to cities if local officials end up on the Trump Administration’s radar, especially after a recent executive order targeting sanctuary cities.
While he said his research indicates tying up federal dollars over sanctuary status isn’t legal, it’s not beyond the administration to push.
In an even starker warning, Correa openly worries about increasingly confrontational tactics from administration officials with local elected officials and judges seen as impeding federal deportation efforts.
“This administration is getting more aggressive, determined to deport people,” he said in an interview on Monday, “almost on a daily basis,” noting recent prosecution of a member of Congress and a Wisconsin judge.
“It’s unprecedented in my opinion,” he said.
Earlier this month, Amezcua, Nuñez and Rodriguez got publicly embarrassed when the Inadvertent published a story detailing federal immigration enforcement activity in the city – despite repeated public assurances of no ICE activity from the three top city officials.
Voice of OC got the same records and published a story right in the midst of Santa Ana’s city council meeting on May 6 – something that prompted a strong reaction from Amezcua in her closing comments.
[Read: Will Santa Ana Alert Residents of ICE Activity Amid Federal Immigration Crackdown?]
Noting the recent media reporting, Amezcua disputed there was anything disingenuous about how city officials reported ICE activity in recent weeks and took issue with Councilwoman Jessie Lopez’ remarks about her stewardship of the issue.
“Nobody’s hiding anything,” she said at the May 6 meeting.
“We can’t change what’s happening in DC,” Amezcua noted, adding, “I’m not running scared. But I am smart.”
Amezcua took issue with what she saw as council colleagues grandstanding on the issue, warning that city officials shouldn’t look for a confrontation with the administration as a sanctuary city.
“We do not want to pound our chest,” Amezcua said, quoting Correa saying, “stay on the down low.”
A Push to Disclose ICE Activity
Despite Amezcua’s public attacks on her city council colleagues, two council members – Jonahthan Hernandez and Ben Vazquez – scheduled a public discussion tonight about how the city should inform residents about ICE activity in Santa Ana.
“This highlights a transparency gap in regards to ICE’s repeated presence in Santa Ana neighborhoods including near residential areas, schools, and places of worship,” reads the proposal from Hernandez and Vazquez.
They also highlighted how the police department volunteers other types of information without a council directive.
“SAPD already maintains the capacity to proactively share weekly data on firearm and narcotics seizures. The Department has no policy directing it to release such data proactively, yet SAPD does so of its own accord,” reads their proposal.
In a phone interview after teeing up tonight’s discussion earlier this month, Hernandez told a Voice of OC reporter that Santa Ana is already on Trump’s radar.
“We’re the only sanctuary city in Orange County,” he said. “We’re going to stand up to the bullies.”
Councilwoman Jessie Lopez seconded that sentiment calling Amezcua unfit for office at the moment, telling Voice of OC, “There is no way that, as an elected leader, I’m going to hide from this battle.”
After the initial publication of our story about ICE activity, Police Chief Rodriguez clarified city policies on alerting residents.
“Regarding past public comments stating there was ‘no ICE activity,’ those statements reflected our understanding at the time. Because we are not involved in their operations, we often do not have visibility into the nature or outcome of their actions beyond the courtesy notice,” he wrote in a response to questions from our newsroom.
Lopez – who was a key focus of Amezcua’s May 6 personal attacks from the dais – called Amezcua’s approach to ICE “disingenuous.”
She also told Voice of OC that Rodriguez’s email statement shows there is no expertise on this issue in the police department and city manager’s office, noting it was time for the city’s Sanctuary Policy Advisory group to be reconvened – something she tried to do earlier this year.
[Read: Will Santa Ana Relaunch an Advisory Group to Strengthen Immigration Protections?]
“I never said don’t share information,” Correa told me in a phone interview, adding that there could be good benefits to get a sense of what deportation efforts look like and to better understand what is happening throughout the city.
A host of local immigration activists have said they want to see more sunlight on deportation operations in their city.
Later today at 3:30 p.m. in front of Santa Ana city hall, several immigrant rights organizations will join councilmembers Vazquez, and Hernandez will hold a press conference calling on the city council to enact an ordinance requiring public disclosure of all ICE courtesy notifications received by the Santa Ana Police Department within 48 hours.
Former Santa Ana Mayor and current Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento echoed that sentiment, saying he is troubled by the city’s failure to share information with residents.
“This failure to share information does really erode public trust, and could be contrary to public safety, because now these folks don’t want to be witnesses when they see crimes; and if they’re victims, won’t report those crimes. So it just undermines the whole premise of community safety,” Sarmiento said in a Wednesday phone interview with Voice of OC.
“The more information that city staff receives and shares with the public is always better, especially when it comes to sensitive issues like this,” he said.
While Correa sees information as a positive thing, he’s also trying to warn local officials that ICE and Homeland Security are carrying out deportations in unprecedented ways.
Key advice from Correa – based on his briefings as a member of Congress – is that cities and officials should be careful to not be seen as leaking sensitive information, such as locations of ongoing raids, or obstructing ICE officers or putting their safety in danger.
He said those kinds of perceived actions from local officials are triggering arrests.
That’s a point underscored by Police Chief Rodriguez in his email to Voice of OC.
“We must carefully balance public communication with the operational integrity of external law enforcement agencies. Prematurely releasing details of planned federal operations could compromise their investigations and put people at risk, including our own officers and the community,” he wrote.
Correa said his advice should be seen as a tool for all sides to stay protected.
“What I’m trying to do is provide the best information to my constituents and city council on what the dynamic is,” Correa told me, adding “it’s changing on a moment to moment basis.”