Santa Ana residents might get routine updates anytime federal immigration officials visit their town after revelations this week are raising questions about whether or not the city manager and police chief knew about any immigration raids.
Two Santa Ana City Council members are pushing for a policy that would mandate the police department to publicly disclose every time federal immigration agents give them a courtesy call that they’ll be operating in OC’s only sanctuary city.
On at least four separate occasions this year, the mayor publicly asked the chief of police and the city manager if Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were conducting enforcement in town.
Each time, top city hall staff said they knew nothing.
[Read: Have Santa Ana’s Police Chief & City Manager Been Up Front With Residents About ICE Activity?]
“I feel that it is our responsibility and our legal obligation to protect immigrants and refugees during a time where we have federal agencies coming into Orange County and separating families,” said City Councilman Johnathan Hernandez, who is calling for the policy and running for State Assembly, in a Wednesday phone call.
“It is important that we are transparent with any information we receive and I think the best thing we can do is to develop trust with our constituents in Santa Ana.”
Tuesday was the first city council meeting since Inadvertent published a story on Monday based on records they obtained revealing that federal immigration agents notified the police department dozens of times that they would be in Santa Ana between January 22 to April 26.
Santa Ana officials provided Voice of OC the same records less than two hours before Tuesday’s city council meeting that showed 42 documented entries of ICE/Department of Homeland Security notifying officials that immigration officers would be visiting certain blocks and corners throughout the city.
In a Wednesday email, Police Chief Robert Rodriguez – an immigrant himself – said that most of the calls came from homeland security’s primary investigative branch responsible for conducting investigations into narcotic trafficking, child exploitation and human trafficking.
“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 some cases, even that notification comes after the fact. It is also important to note Santa Ana Police Department dispatch receives an average of 13,000 calls for service per month.”
At least 16 of the 42 alerts or roughly 40% came from ICE, according to the spreadsheet reviewed by the Voice of OC.
Niels Frenzen, director of the USC Gould School of Law Immigration Clinic, said the Department of Homeland Security has been increasingly used in immigration efforts since President Donald Trump took office in January.
“Its enforcement actions have been broadened,” Frenzen said. “(Homeland Security) is involved in quote, unquote, routine immigration enforcement.”
“It would be a good practice for cities to alert the community regarding DHS enforcement actions because the evidence on the ground right now is that the Department of Homeland Security is engaging in unlawful, unconstitutional enforcement actions.”
In his email, Rodriguez said police officers will not assist in federal immigration enforcement actions.
“We understand the concern this issue has raised and the questions it has generated about transparency and trust. The City Manager and I take those concerns seriously. Our department remains committed to transparency while respecting legal boundaries and the operational independence of federal agencies,” he wrote.
At the same time, Rodriguez said they must be careful disclosing courtesy notices to the public.
“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.
His email came after Mayor Valerie Amezcua threw her support behind Rodriguez and City Manager Alvaro Nuñez, assuring residents that both of them will respond to questions on whether they’ve been up front about ICE activity.
“I am looking forward to those questions being answered,” Amezcua said at Tuesday’s meeting. “Nobody’s hiding anything here.”
“Whatever it is that you need to address, Chief, I know you will honestly, and I know you will, Mr. City Manager, you don’t hide. You guys do not both hide behind anything, and neither do I.”
Nuñez did not address the questions Tuesday night and has not responded to emailed questions on the issue Wednesday.
Amezcua and Councilmembers Phil Bacerra, Thai Viet Phan and Ben Vazquez did not respond or return requests for comment Wednesday.
Councilmembers David Penaloza and Jessie Lopez – who are both running for state assembly – also did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
In a Thursday phone interview after this article was published, Lopez said she’s disappointed that city officials sat on information about ICE activity within the city.
“The way that it was handled, it was not forthcoming, it was disingenuous, and I believe that they should do anything in their authority and their power with the city manager’s office to notify people so that people can at least be aware of the threat that exists to them in our community,” she said.
Lopez added that Rodriguez’s statement shows there is no level of expertise on this issue in the police department and city manager’s office and said it was why the city’s Sanctuary Policy Advisory group should be reconvened – something she unsuccessfully called for earlier this year.
[Read: Will Santa Ana Relaunch an Advisory Group to Strengthen Immigration Protections?]
Hernandez said the ICE and homeland security notifications were not sent to the city manager’s office.
Amid heightened fear of mass deportations, Amezcua began asking Nuñez and Rodriguez in at least four meetings this year if ICE had been active in the city to which they both routinely said no.
Amezcua also warned Tuesday of landing on Trump’s radar amid his immigration crackdown.
“I want the council members up here that are banging their chest really loud about we’re going to stand up to him and he takes away millions of dollars – and he’ll start with HUD money, and then we have to lay off city staff – I want you to keep pounding your chest, because I will look at you and say, ‘you caused this,’” Amezcua said, adding that a loss of funding could impact city services.
Last week, Trump signed an executive order directing the U.S. Department of Justice and Homeland Security to publish a list of sanctuary cities and states, warning if they don’t comply with federal immigration law they could lose funding.
Amezcua said city officials should pick the right fights and listen to the advice Congressman Lou Correa has given city officials.
“Congressman Correa said, Mayor, stay on the down low. He said it to me. He said it to you. He has said it to you, stay on the down low. And you know he’s a wise man. He’s been in office a long time, so I’m taking that advice,” Amezcua said.
Correa did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
In a Wednesday phone interview, Hernandez said 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.”
California is also a sanctuary state, which bars local law enforcement from directly working with federal immigration officials in most cases unless that person has been convicted of a felony.
Councilwoman Phan, also an immigrant, also echoed a somewhat cautionary tone during Tuesday’s meeting.
She said she hopes city officials are “sharing whatever information is necessary for people to protect their rights, but also protecting the city’s responsibility and duty in ensuring that we are able to continue to obtain whatever grants, services and support we need from both our state and federal partners.”
The rest of the city council besides Hernandez did not speak on the issue at Tuesday’s meeting, including Councilman Vazquez, who supports a disclosure policy on ICE alerts with Hernandez.
Lopez said there is no way the city will be immune to the Trump administration.
“There is no way that, as an elected leader, I’m going to hide from this battle,” she said about Amezcua’s suggestion.
“Any elected person, like the mayor saying, ‘Well, let me just hide away and not say his name, because I’m afraid’ is unfit to be in office at this moment.”
Orange County Supervisor and former Santa Ana Mayor Vicente Sarmiento said he is troubled by the city’s failure to share information to 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.
“The more information that city staff receives and shares with the public is always better, especially when it comes to sensitive issues like this, but I don’t know what the contact was, and so I really can’t speak to that.”
Calls for Transparency on ICE Increase
Hernandez and Vazquez are not the only ones calling on the police department to disclose ICE notifications.
The Orange County Rapid Response Network, which tracks federal immigration activity and educates residents on immigration rights, is demanding transparency about the ICE and Department of Homeland Security alerts the city receives.
Sandra De Anda, the network’s coordinator, said the data obtained by Inadvertent and Voice of OC matches the calls they’ve been getting about ICE being spotted in the community.
She said it was important that the city is transparent when they are alerted that federal immigration agents will be in Santa Ana and was disappointed that top city executives reported at public meetings there were no immigration actions occurring.
“It’s important because I believe that community members should be able to make the decisions they need to make in order to keep their family safe,” De Anda said in a phone interview.
“Many of our community members go to those meetings, or they watch it online, and so they’re getting a sense of comfort from the city,” she continued. “Acting ignorant in a time where people need a very solid foundation is just terrible leadership because people are trying to understand the chaos at hand.”
The network is also demanding officials bring back the Sanctuary Policy Advisory Board, expand the city’s legal immigration defense fund, create an emergency fund for residents whose loved ones are deported and an audit into the police department’s ICE related activities.
De Anda said Amezcua’s public advice to avoid confrontational statements about the Trump administration or ICE enforcement actions will do nothing to quell the fear of residents in the city.
“Community members need action now. They need things like a robust legal defense fund that’s going to represent them if they were to be detained,” she said. “What the mayor is doing, where it’s just kind of pretending like things aren’t happening in the community to the most vulnerable populations – It’s not good leadership.”
Mai Nguyen Do, research and policy manager at the Harbor Institute, said ICE’s presence in a local community erodes public trust.
“It’s really up to our local leaders and our local governments to step in and let the public know so that they can make informed decisions for themselves and their families about their daily activities,” Do said.
Do said there were two possibilities of what happened with discrepancies on the ICE notifications.
“One is that those who are reporting that there has been no ICE activity at city council meetings from the Santa Ana police department are lying. And the other alternative, which is not necessarily better, is that that information is not making its way to leaders within the Santa Ana Police Department,” they said.
Do also said the Trump administration is already targeting cities like Santa Ana and trying to avoid getting the president’s attention won’t work.
“That same strategy doesn’t apply when they’ve been really trying to continuously attack our communities, our rights and our values for longer than Trump has been in office,” they said.
“Sanctuary cities and leaders in sanctuary cities are within their right to ensure that local resources are not used for Trump’s mass deportation agenda. There’s nothing unconstitutional about it.”
Tracy La, executive director of VietRise, said the city should notify residents of federal immigration enforcement actions.
“What we’re seeing in the Vietnamese community is that community members are getting detained on the spot,” she said.
“What often happens is that they’re not prepared for it at all. They don’t have documentation on them. Their families have to sacrifice so much of their life to pick up the pieces after their loved one is detained.”
La said Santa Ana should not lay low, like Amezcua suggested.
“That’s exactly what he wants, for our community to be scared, to not fight for our rights, to not stand up as a city, for our immigrant and documented neighbors,” she said. “I don’t think we should back down.”
On Tuesday, the mayor defended her leadership, arguing that the city is upholding the state’s sanctuary law and said under the new leadership officials were working hard to serve residents.
“Some people up here have had four or five years to address issues in this city, and they have not been addressed, but they are now. They are being addressed now, and that is because there has been a change in leadership and a change in the mayor,” Amezcua said.
Sarmiento said when he left the city council the city was financially well and people felt safe.
“I certainly hope that continues. I wish them well,” he said. “We did quite a few things to make sure that we were responsive to the community.”
“But I see that they’re looking at a severe shortfall. They’re looking at a community that feels very vulnerable and unsafe,” Sarmiento continued. “I have a lot of confidence in the city council as a whole.”
Amezcua also indirectly criticized Lopez for a comment she made to Voice of OC in an article published during Tuesday’s city council meeting in which Lopez called the mayor “disingenuous.”
The mayor, in turn, took issue with the councilwoman from the dais, accusing her of being hypocritical and “self-serving.”
Amezcua pointed to Lopez’s support for putting a measure on the November ballot – which ultimately failed – that would have raised city council pay from $12,000 to $78,000.
Lopez said Thursday that she wasn’t sitting on the dais when Amezcua made her comments and that measure for the pay raise was backed by other council members, not just herself.
“There’s nothing new about the mayor coming after me,” Lopez said. “I really recommend that she seek professional help.”
“What I’ve heard from my constituents is that they want a unified council and leadership, and not a mayor that is consistently trying to bully and harass me for simply giving my opinion.”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.