Police officers in Santa Ana – OC’s only Sanctuary city – may soon be barred from moonlighting or volunteering as ICE agents and other federal immigration enforcement-related jobs under a proposed city ordinance.
The move comes almost a year since widespread deportation sweeps ramped up in OC, sparking protests in Santa Ana last summer and discussions across some city halls in the region on how they should respond to the sweeps or if they should respond at all.
[Read: Many Orange County Cities Stay Silent on ICE Raids]
On Tuesday, Santa Ana City Council members directed staff to bring back an ordinance banning police officers from working a second job with an immigration enforcement agency and explore expanding the proposal to all city employees at the request of residents and activists.
[Read: Santa Ana Considers Banning Police Officers From Moonlighting as ICE Agents]
Mayor Valerie Amezcua and Councilman Phil Bacerra, who called for the ordinance, said Santa Ana police officers are some of the highest trained law enforcement officers unlike ICE agents who Bacerra called “ridiculously ill-trained.”
“We do not need ill-trained individuals thinking that the Santa Ana Police Department is even a remote option,” Bacerra said at Tuesday’s meeting. “Through this item, we want to make very clear that we also do not want our officers to have any secondary employment with any immigration-related enforcement.”
Amezcua said the proposed ordinance was about making it explicitly clear in their municipal code that police officers are not allowed to work such jobs that conflict with city policies.
“As a charter city, we want to exercise the maximum ability that a charter city allows and codify language in the Santa Ana municipal code that protects residents and ensures that police officers are not employed in immigration enforcement,” she said at Tuesday’s meetings.
Under a current city police policy, officers must get approval from the police chief and human resources to work a second job.
Santa Ana Police Officers Association leaders told Voice of OC in an email statement last week union members are prohibited from working from other law enforcement agencies.
Police Chief Robert Rodriguez publicly said Tuesday that department and city leaders do not approve requests from police officers to work immigration enforcement related jobs on the side.
Councilwoman Jessie Lopez, who is running for state assembly, said the ordinance should include a clear enforcement mechanism including discipline, termination as well as civil penalties.
“We can pass a lot of laws, but if we don’t have teeth in our laws, they are not as impactful,” she said at Tuesday’s meeting.
Officials also directed staff on Tuesday to bring back a resolution in support of AB 1537 – a state bill dubbed the “No Side Jobs For ICE Act” – that would prohibit local and state law enforcement from working or volunteering for immigration related jobs like ICE.
They also called for the state bill to be amended to make clear local law enforcement won’t be banned from serving in the military reserves, with Bacerra saying their support should be dependent on that change.
Councilman Ben Vazquez said the bill was about closing a loophole in California’s sanctuary state law that bans police from aiding in federal immigration enforcement but does not prevent them from working for ICE when they are off duty.
“Public agencies should not serve as a pipeline to a career in family separation. We know ICE is desperate to recruit more deportation agents, it’s even launched ads trying to recruit local and state law enforcement officers to join its ranks,” said Vazquez, who called for a resolution in support of AB 1537 with Councilman Johnathan Hernandez.
“Nothing prevents local law enforcement from taking a side job with ICE and we don’t have any state laws to help bring transparency to those who might be doing so. AB 1537 will close the loophole.”
Last year, elected officials and the police department faced intense scrutiny for what many activists and residents said was an excessive response to protests against widespread ICE raids – one that saw local officers helping federal agents during the initial protests at the federal buildings in Downtown Santa Ana.
Last month, Rodriguez publicly answered questions about his department’s response to the protests saying they answered federal calls for assistance because they worried federal officers would bring out their own reinforcements to deal with protesters.
[Read: Santa Ana Police Called to Aid Federal Officers Before Firing on ICE Protesters Last Year]
Since the raids ramped up last June, Santa Ana leaders rolled out and renewed an immigration aid fund, bolstered their legal defense fund and shared immigration resources online while many officials across OC have not taken any official action in response to the sweeps
Hernandez said the proposed ordinance banning moonlighting at immigration enforcement related agencies should extend past the police department and stretch to all city employees.
“It would be a dichotomy for people to work in Santa Ana, but also have the desire to work for ICE at the same time,” he said at the meeting.
“That would be a contradiction to our very community.”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org.