Costa Mesa residents detained by federal immigration agents could soon benefit from immigration legal defense services created by the city.
It comes as officials there move to support a lawsuit challenging the deportation sweeps in Southern California.
City council members are also looking to launch a rental registry to track rental properties in the city amid reports of immigrant families too scared to go to work while federal agents conduct immigration enforcement in the area.
[Read: Costa Mesa to Consider Opposing Deportation Sweeps on Two Fronts]
It all comes on the heels of Supreme Court Justices blocking a temporary restraining order issued in July that barred widespread raids based on race, ethnicity, language spoken and place of employment.
[Read: Could Widespread ICE Raids Come Back to Orange County?]
On Tuesday, city council members voted 5-2 to launch a $200,000 immigrant legal defense fund and contract primarily with Immigrant Defenders Law Center to help residents and anyone who is detained by ICE within the city’s boundaries.
Mayor John Stephens, who made a motion initially for a $150,000 fund, also called for the Public Law Center to serve as a secondary legal provider, to open the fund up to outside donations and for staff to update them on it once there is $50,000 left in the fund.
Stephens, who is also an attorney, said that undocumented immigrants are not provided lawyers by the government like citizens are under the Constitution, regardless of their alleged crime.
“This is a matter of access to justice, plain and simple,” he said at the meeting.
“These folks that are being detained allegedly because they violated some immigration law. They have none of that. They don’t have any access to justice. The government is taking them but the government is not defending them.”
A majority of council members are also supporting a federal lawsuit filed by the ACLU and a host of immigrant advocacy groups – on behalf of five Los Angeles residents – alleging federal agents are racially profiling people to make warrantless deportation arrests.
While the city’s not joining the lawsuit, officials are filing supporting documents – something known as an amicus brief.
Council members Jeff Pettis and Mike Buley were the dissenting votes, but didn’t comment on why they didn’t support the lawsuit or the immigration legal defense fund at the meeting.
Councilwoman Andrea Marr successfully called for the council to allocate $200,000 to the defense fund instead of $150,000 and that city employees and their families be eligible to use it.
The meeting comes as efforts to expand legal aid to immigrants in the region are growing.
[Read: Immigration Legal Aid Funds Grow in Orange County]
Roberto Herrera, leadership development director with Resilience OC, said city leaders have to protect their constituents in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.
“Constitutional protections like due process and equal protection under the law are being shredded by the current administration and the highest court,” he said at a Tuesday news conference outside Costa Mesa City Hall before the meeting.
“Immigrant communities are living through the constant fear and living presence of militarized agents terrorizing our neighborhoods.”
For about an hour, residents and activists called on Costa Mesa leaders to participate in the lawsuit and start an immigration legal defense fund.
Some pointed to reports of day laborers being aggressively detained last week on Newport Boulevard.
Melissa Shepard, the legal director of Immigrant Defenders Law Center, said federal law enforcement agencies are operating with a “detain first and ask questions later mentality” and that their law center has worked tirelessly to challenge the deportation sweeps.
“What we now need is your partnership. Cities across California have made the choice to fund immigration deportation defense. Costa Mesa should be next,” Shepard said over Zoom at Tuesday’s meeting.
“Join us in this litigation. Invest in the legal defense infrastructure that already exists and is serving your community. Help restore due process and protect your residents when they need it most.”
Immigrant Defenders are co-counsel and one of the plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit.
Councilwoman Arlis Reynolds said the deportation sweeps are causing trauma in the immigrant community – turning a trip to the store into a privilege.
“It’s a very, very scary time in Costa Mesa,” she said at the meeting.
Reynolds also said the impacts could be felt for years.
“This is an issue of public safety, and this is an issue that’s having immediate impacts right now and long term impacts. There are Costa Mesa graduates – high school graduates, who are choosing not to go to college because they need to stay home in case their parents are detained and they need to be able to take care of their siblings.”
Rent Assistance & Tracking Evictions in Costa Mesa
At Tuesday’s meeting, Costa Mesa officials voted 5-2 to ratify their donation of $100,000 to assist residents with rent, meals and groceries.
The money was split equally and dispersed to two nonprofits, Someone Cares Soup Kitchen and Enough For All.
Buley and Pettis were the dissenting votes, questioning if the donation was properly agendized when it was first voted on in August and arguing that the city has struggled to balance their budget.
“We’re getting outside of our lane here, and we’re borderline becoming an activist council and we’re going to be drawing unwanted attention to this council and I think it’s going to be a lot of unintended consequences,” Buley said at the meeting.
Costa Mesa City Council officials also voted 4-2-1 to direct staff to develop a proposal for a rental registry as well as bring back an update to their tenant protection ordinance to require notices of any eviction to the city.
Buley and Pettis were the dissenting vote, with Buley arguing that this is a step towards rent control and Pettis saying they are not the housing authority.
Stephens recused himself from the vote, stating he had received campaign donations from the Apartment Association of Orange County.
Are Roving Deportation Sweeps Returning?
Monday’s Supreme Court decision sparked strong opposition from a host of elected officials and nonprofit organizations across Orange County this week.
Sandra De Anda, director of Policy and Legal Strategy at the OC Rapid Response Network, called the court ruling a devastating blow that would be acutely felt in Costa Mesa – a city home to many Latino families.
“If you speak Spanish, if you look Latino, if you work a low-paying job, you should not be treated as a target. Yet this is the reality facing many of our Costa Mesa families,” she said at Tuesday’s press conference.
Earlier that day, Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento called the Supreme Court decision dangerous and said it would gravely impact the county.
“Nobody is disputing the fact immigration enforcement can occur and will occur. Simply it should be done pursuant to due process and the Constitution,” he said at Tuesday’s OC Board of Supervisors meeting.
“It’s an unfortunate moment, at least for Latinos that live in this county, because whether you’re documented or not, you are now going to be subject to this type of approach.”
Supervisors have decided not to participate in the ACLU lawsuit even though officials in some of the county’s largest cities are increasingly throwing their support behind the plaintiffs.
Officials in Santa Ana, Anaheim, Irvine and Fullerton either voted to join or support the federal lawsuit before the temporary restraining order was blocked on Monday.
On Tuesday, Irvine council members voted 5-2 to authorize the submission of an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit and the temporary restraining order after directing staff last month to draft one.
Councilmembers Mike Carroll and James Mai were the dissenting votes.
Jeffery Melching, Irvine’s City Attorney, said the Supreme Court ruling has led the plaintiffs to delay submitting their own brief till next week.
“The brief was supposed to be due yesterday. They’ve indicated in their filing that it’s possible that they won’t file a brief at all. And if they don’t file a brief, we can’t file a brief. If they do file a brief, we will file a brief and that brief will be filed no later than September 22, 2025,” he said at the meeting.
Meanwhile, Costa Mesa City Councilman Manuel Chavez, a son of immigrants, said students have asked him what the Supreme Court decision means exactly while others have asked him to help them get jobs to help their parents pay the rent.
“It was heartbreaking to say, quite frankly, it means it can stop you for just looking Latino, speaking Spanish or anything,” he said at the meeting.
“I know in every bone in my body what’s happening right now is not normal. It’s not okay.”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.