Following meetings with immigrant-rights groups over the weekend, Mayor Karen Bass and City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto worked to expedite the release of a proposed "sanctuary city'' ordinance to the City Council, her office announced Tuesday.
With President-elect Donald Trump set to take office in January, LA's immigrant communities are bracing for his promised crack down on undocumented migrants. While the city of Los Angeles has prohibited the use of its resources from assisting federal immigration authorities in past years, a sanctuary ordinance would formally codify such policies.
"Especially in the face of growing threats to the immigrant communities here in Los Angeles, I stand with the people of this city,'' Bass said in a statement. "This moment demands urgency.''
The mayor added that immigrant protections make "our communities stronger and our city better.'' She also thanked Feldstein Soto for her work and said she is looking forward to working with Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Council members Nithya Raman, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Eunisses Hernandez and others to enact protections for the city's immigrant communities.
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"Solidarity is an action, not rhetoric. Los Angeles stands together,'' Bass said in her statement.
Former Mayor Eric Garcetti issued an executive directive in 2019 that offered protections to the immigrant community. Additionally, the Los Angeles Police Department mandates its officers not to inquire about immigration status or make arrests related to a migrant's legal status, which is outlined under Special Order 40.
In part, the proposed sanctuary ordinance would enshrine such protections in the city's books.
The ordinance would also prohibit "any city resources, property or personnel from being utilized for any federal immigration enforcement,'' as well as city cooperation with federal immigration authorities in "execution of their duties'' as it pertains to immigration enforcement.
The City Council in June 2023 instructed the city attorney to prepare a draft ordinance.
On Monday, Trump's new "border czar'' Tom Homan said during an appearance on "Fox & Friends'': "Nothing will stop us from deporting migrant criminals.''
He also addressed sanctuary jurisdictions, noting that "If we can't get assistance from New York City, we may have to double the number of agents we send to New York City. Because we're going to the job with you or without you.''
He also suggested that the president withhold federal funding to sanctuary jurisdictions.
Homan was the former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the first Trump administration.
