Officials in Orange County’s largest cities are taking a stand against widespread immigration enforcement this summer by challenging deportation sweeps in federal court, reporting out enforcement activity to residents or offering financial aid to the families impacted.
These are actions most local elected officials in OC are unwilling or struggling to take amid a federal immigration crackdown that ramped up in June despite pressure from residents who have demanded at city council meetings that leaders take a stand and help immigrants.
Last month, officials in both Anaheim and Santa Ana voted to join a federal lawsuit challenging widespread ICE raids in parts of Southern California and alleging federal immigration officers are racial profiling people to make warrantless arrests.
It’s an allegation that Department of Homeland security officials have repeatedly denied after conducting sweeps across the region and aggressively rounding up day laborers at Home Depots as well as people at immigration court houses and car washes.
Another OC city may soon join the lawsuit.
Irvine City Councilwoman Betty Martinez Franco said jumping in on the legal challenge against the ICE raids is something she plans to bring up at a future city council meeting.
“We’re the central city in Orange County, one of the largest cities in California, and even though we haven’t been affected as much as Anaheim or Santa Ana, we know that we have been targeted and specifically they have been coming for people that work in the city,” Martinez Franco said in a Thursday phone interview.
“I know that my fellow council members are also supportive of helping more in immigration, so I’m hoping that we pass it.”
She added that it’s important for the city to protect the rights of residents and workers alike.
City Councilwoman Melinda Liu also said she also supports Irvine joining the lawsuit.
“I’ve been trying to ask the city staff and also the Mayor’s office to see if this is something that we will be able to do as a city to join the lawsuit and make sure that Irvine residents are protected,” she said in a Thursday phone interview.
“Due process is what sets us apart from other countries, and we are a country of law. And we do have a justice system here that we need to make sure we uphold for anybody who’s physically present in the United States.”
Earlier this month, a federal judge temporarily paused roving deportation efforts throughout most of Southern California.
[Read: Federal Judge Orders Immigration Agents to Halt Stops Based on Race]
Meanwhile, officials in other cities like Garden Grove and Costa Mesa are contemplating what action to take in response to the sweeps that started nearly two months ago and have upended the lives of local families as residents call for resources to support their neighbors.
On Tuesday, Costa Mesa officials are expected to consider a resolution that raises concerns about the ICE sweeps and calls on local nonprofits to help families impacted by the raids.
They will also consider a resolution in support of a state bill that aims to require all law enforcement agencies including federal immigration agents to wear visible IDs when operating in California.
In Orange, a majority of city council members have dismissed efforts to put up an immigrant resource page on their city website and backed away from asking federal immigration agents to wear visible IDs when they operate in the city.
[Read: Orange Backs Off Trying to Unmask ICE]
Challenging Immigration Raids in Court
The lawsuit, spearheaded by the ACLU, challenging immigration raids was filed in June on behalf of five workers who were arrested in Los Angeles County as well as a couple of immigration rights organizations.
Since then a host of municipalities have sought to jump in on the legal challenges including Los Angeles County and a host of its cities.
Anaheim city spokesman Mike Lyster said OC’s largest just city has yet to be admitted to the lawsuit officials voted to join on July 22.
[Read: Anaheim Looks to Join Lawsuit Against ICE Raids]
“The first cities and county to seek to join — Los Angeles, Culver City, Montebello, Monterey Park, Pasadena, Pico Rivera, Santa Monica, and West Hollywood as well as the county of Los Angeles — were admitted on July 29,” Lyster wrote in a Wednesday email.
“We expect a second motion for other cities, including Anaheim, to be filed this week. Our filing is still being drafted.”
Santa Ana Spokesman Paul Eakins said in a Thursday email the motion for the city to join the lawsuit has yet to be filed.
The two OC cities joined the lawsuit after a federal judge put a temporary hold on sweeping immigration raids barring federal agents from stopping people based on race, the language they speak and how they speak it, location and occupation as the case continues to be heard.
U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong also ordered that detainees be given access to legal representation
But the federal government is now challenging that temporary restraining order in court, arguing that immigration enforcement agents have been making warrantless arrests and stops based on reasonable suspicion not racial profiling.
Last week, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel heard arguments from both sides on the validity of the temporary restraining order, and decided to let the district court’s temporary restraining order stand.
[Read: 9th Circuit Judges Uphold Block on Southern California ICE Sweeps]
Eakins said Santa Ana also joined a host of municipalities including Los Angeles, Pomona, LA County, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and Long Beach in filing a court document known as an amicus brief against the efforts by the federal government to overturn the restraining order.
“Over the past few weeks, however, Defendants have sought to destabilize our region through a shock-and-awe campaign of unlawful immigration enforcement,” reads the brief filed on July 21.
“The cities and county that the federal government has chosen as its epicenter for immigration raids—have seen their residents terrorized and their resources strained by roving sweeps conducted by masked and heavily armed federal agents who choose targets based on little more than the color of their skin, the languages they speak, and their place of employment.
To read the full amicus brief, click here.
Watching For ICE
Beyond the courthouse, Anaheim officials have also been providing daily updates on their Anaheim Contigo webpage since mid-June detailing immigration enforcement activity in the city and noting when they haven’t independently verified tips they’ve received.
According to the website’s July 31 update, the city has seen some targeted enforcement activity, but not broader sweeps since the temporary restraining order went into effect.
[Read: Anaheim Rolls Out Aid Program for Residents Impacted by ICE Raids]
The webpage also lists immigrant support resources.
They are not the only ones in the county giving residents an update of sorts.
When the immigration sweeps first reached Irvine on June 12, officials there put out a news release warning the community that ICE would be operating in their city. They also listed immigration resources on their website.
[Read: Orange County ICE Raids Expand into Irvine]
Liu said that day she and her staff visited shopping centers around the city to hand out Know Your Rights pamphlets translated in different languages and legal rights resource cards to people.
“I believe in empowering people with knowledge and that is what we’ve been doing in this office, trying to make sure that people know what their rights are,” she said.
Liu added that after the city informed residents about enforcement activity on June 12, ICE and Border Patrol cut off communication with the city.
“They won’t even give us a heads up anymore, which is very difficult for us to know ahead of time,” she said.
“That first day when we got the heads up, we were able to go into action and help residents act proactively but then after that, they stopped telling us so we’re playing catch up.”
Last month, Mayor Larry Agran gave an update at the July 8 city council meeting, noting a sweep at a car wash at the beginning of July where five people were detained.
He also announced that there will be updates at city council meetings on immigration enforcement activity in Irvine.
“At future city council meetings, I’ll be calling upon Irvine City Manager Sean Crumby and Chief (Michael) Kent to make a brief report to the council and the community at large, bringing us up to date on the status of immigration enforcement activity in our city, and of course, we’ll see to it that additional interim reports are provided as events warrant,” Agran said at the July 8 meeting.
Irvine Councilwoman Martinez Franco said giving updates on immigration enforcement activity brings awareness to the community and called it “the right thing to do.”
She also said whenever they hear of verified enforcement activity in town, they notify the public on social media.
Meanwhile, a majority of officials in Santa Ana – OC’s only sanctuary city – backed away from adopting an ICE notification policy last month after U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli threatened the city with legal action if officials followed through on the policy.
Officials there however have requested information from ICE about who’s getting caught up in raids and where people are being sent.
Council members also adopted a resolution calling on the OC Congressional delegation to push for the removal of ICE and the National Guard from the city.
That response came after thousands of residents protested along Santa Ana streets in June, in many cases being tear gassed and shot with pepperballs by police – a response that prompted hundreds to show up to a public meeting in June demanding the mayor resign.
Aiding Immigrants
While they are not notifying residents about ICE activity, Santa Ana City Council members launched a $100,000 fund to support families impacted by the sweeps in the city. They have also launched a website listing resources for immigrants.
The only other city in Orange County to start an aid fund is Anaheim.
As part of Anaheim Contigo, officials launched a fund to support immigrants whose lives have been impacted by the raids supported by community donations. They also pledged to allocate $250,000 to the fund as well.
[Read: Struggling to Fund Aid for OC Families Impacted by ICE Sweeps]
Irvine Councilwoman Martinez Franco said she wasn’t sure if the city would start its own fund, but said she would give at least $500 to a nonprofit organization helping families impacted by the sweeps, adding that Irvine hasn’t been hit as hard as other cities.
She also said that officials are trying to find a balance between being proactive in protecting residents and not becoming targeted by the federal government and being hindered from trying to safeguard people who live or work in the city.
“As city council members, we all are concerned but we also need to be careful about not putting the most vulnerable people at risk,” Martinez Franco said.
Liu echoed her comments.
“We’re trying to walk that really fine line.”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.