Shortly after the ICE raids kicked off last June, Anaheim City Council members created a relief fund for impacted residents, which also saw a daily update on deportation efforts in the city – the only program like it in Orange County.
It’s an especially stark difference to Orange County’s only self-declared sanctuary city, Santa Ana, which does not provide residents with any real time information about ICE raids.
Local advocates say those online updates are critical for residents to know what’s going on in their town – information that can help people make informed choices.
“Other cities absolutely should be looking at Anaheim as the model. In my city in Fullerton, they have a website, but it’s just a website with resources,” said USC professor and local immigration advocate Jody Vallejo in an interview.
“What Anaheim is doing is really, really important and all cities should be understanding that we are in a crisis right now and constituents would absolutely benefit from a live, updated frequent communication,” Vallejo said.
It comes as policy observers and advocates like Vallejo have noted abrupt changes in federal immigration policies have turned scores of once-documented immigrants into undocumented immigrants.
[Read: Orange County’s Year on ICE]
Nearly 70% of the 6,456 people in federal detention centers throughout California have no criminal convictions, according to Department of Homeland Security data from Feb. 5 – the latest available information.
While Anaheim was criticized for not creating an immigrant legal aid fund sooner, Sandra De Anda – director of policy and legal strategy for the OC Rapid Response Network – said the daily updates give city staff a unique perspective and understanding into the exact needs of impacted residents.
[Read Immigration Legal Aid Could be Coming to Anaheim]
In an interview, De Anda said that level of understanding helped the immigrant legal aid fund’s creation, adding that she would regularly see Anaheim’s chief spokesman, Mike Lyster, throughout the city confirming federal deportation efforts – much like the Rapid Response Network does.
“Mike Lyster and myself and other folks we do see each other out on the ground when there is enforcement happening. I think what was very pivotal for this policy to pass – really it was having someone on the inside of the city chambers explain to other folks in the city chambers what’s happening,” De Anda said.
She added, “The legal defense fund conversation should’ve definitely happened earlier,” but De Anda praised efforts to keep residents informed through the website’s daily updates on enforcement activity.
While cities like Santa Ana and Costa Mesa have created legal aid funds to help impacted residents navigate the complex federal immigration system, they don’t offer daily updates.
[Read: Immigrant Aid Efforts Expand Again in Orange County]
Irvine launched an aid program that includes an intake officer to help people get connected to legal representation.
Other cities – like Garden Grove and Fullerton – have created resource information hubs for residents, but have no dedicated direct assistance or legal aid funds.
Many city officials in Orange County who’ve considered creating direct aid funds have said municipal budgets are too strained to create such programs.
Anaheim Staff Become ICE Watchers
Some advocates and volunteers have noted that Anaheim city staff have virtually become ICE watchers – just like the scores of trained volunteers who detail and confirm where enforcement is happening throughout Orange County.
“It’s absolutely important because you’re honoring the experience of those who are being impacted. You’re saying, ‘I see you, I see what’s happening,” De Anda said of the daily updates.
City officials update the website, Anaheim Contigo, every day, detailing recent deportation operations along with pointing residents impacted by ICE raids to a host of city resources like grants for rent and groceries – along with links to immigrant rights groups and legal clinics.
The website gives much more detail about the situation than other Orange County cities that have created immigrant aid funds.
“We have been onsite and confirmed a targeted enforcement traffic stop along East Street at the 91 Freeway around 8 a.m. Tuesday, with one person detained. The incident involved three vehicles with five officers, most likely from Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” reads a March 10 update, noting that deportation efforts have decreased since the January shootings in Minneapolis.
De Anda said there’s no other Orange County city doing updates like Anaheim.
“The ICE watching Anaheim’s doing is really happening in real time. I’m definitely proud to see the City of Anaheim have a watch program,” De Anda said. “I don’t know any other city that has a program like that.”
Anaheim’s updates sometimes include information about activity in nearby cities.
“Wednesday saw reported vehicle sightings in Santa Ana and just over the city line in Orange along Lincoln Avenue, but no reported detainments. Tuesday was quiet after Monday when one person was detained outside his home in an incident of targeted enforcement in a neighborhood near Euclid Street and Cerritos Avenue. Monday’s incident was the first confirmed incident in Anaheim in more than two weeks,” reads the April 2 update.
Before the widespread raids kicked off last year, Santa Ana City Council members mulled over a notification policy that would’ve disclosed enforcement activity days after it happened.
[Read: Santa Ana Officials to Assess Risks of Publicly Disclosing ICE Activity in the City]
But U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli warned the city against adopting the policy, threatening Santa Ana with a federal lawsuit if they followed through and Santa Ana officials ultimately backed off.
Meanwhile, federal officials haven’t publicly threatened Anaheim, which passed on becoming a sanctuary city years ago and instead proclaimed itself a welcoming city.
De Anda said Anaheim’s updates are timely – sometimes posted within minutes of deportation efforts.
“They’re doing the updates like 20, 30, 40 minutes after it’s happened,” DeAnda said. “Me and Mike Lyster, the director of communications in Anaheim, we speak to each other a lot to confirm details on enforcement.”
Kelsey Gordon, operations and advocacy director for the OC Rapid Response Network, echoed what De Anda said.
“When our volunteers are out responding to ICE verification sightings, we’ve run into Mike Lyster for sure,” Gordon said in an interview.
OC Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, who helped launch a legal aid fund with his discretionary spending, said it’s a positive step when cities publicly share information about ICE raids.
“I think any coordinated effort to provide information to the public is helpful and I’m encouraged by more cities providing services at different levels and we know that all cities are unique,” Sarmiento said, adding some smaller cities may not have the resources to do what Anaheim’s doing.
“I’m encouraged by those cities that continue wanting to look for efforts that make sense in their communities,” he said.
A Unique Perspective
Late last month, Anaheim City Council members voted unanimously to roll out a $100,000 legal aid fund, directing the city manager to contract with a local nonprofit law clinic to help get legal representation to residents caught up in deportation sweeps.
De Anda noted that Lyster and other city officials, like acting City Manager Greg Garcia, said it’s critical to get legal aid to someone in the first 24 hours after they’ve been detained – a perspective she hasn’t heard from a city official before.
“Thsoe are critical hours where families are frankly struggling to figure out what has happened, where their loved one is and what to do next,” Lyster told council members at the March 24 meeting.
“It’s providing immediate access to legal consultation,” Garcia said at the meeting. “Making sure that we allow an opportunity for those who are detained to connect with a staff attorney.”
De Anda said city officials gained such insight through their daily updates and assisting families with things like rent, utilities and groceries – along with working with groups like the Rapid Response Network.
“Mike really did learn a lot from the Rapid Response Network, I heard him say the first 24 hours are crucial and he’s absolutely right,” she said.
During the March 24 meeting, Anaheim Councilman Carlos Leon – who spearheaded the city’s legal aid program – said Lyster and other city officials have been constantly on the ground with impacted residents.
Leon recalled an incident of a father getting deported while he and Lyster scrambled to assist the family late at night.
“He was sent to a place that had zero connection and at 9:30 at night I was on the phone with that family and so was Mike,” Leon said. “That’s what showing up looks like.”
The councilman also noted how city staff has consistently worked all hours to help impacted residents.
“At the end of the day it’s about showing up for families in need,” Leon said. “They’re really stepping up for our community.”
Councilwoman Norma Campos Kurtz said city staff largely rolled out the updates and other programs on their own after the council’s initial vote to create aid funds.
“You did it without a direction from council – you didn’t come to council and said may I. You saw a need in the community.”
Spencer Custodio is the civic editor. You can reach him at scustodio@voiceofoc.org. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio.