‘Sanctuary City’ legislation introduced in L.A.

OAN Geraldyn Berry
UPDATED 11:26 AM PT – Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Los Angeles is poised to be the next big city “sanctuary city” After a Tuesday legislation was introduced to “permanently enshrine sanctuary policies into city law.” 

Council members Hugo Soto Martinez, Eunisses Hernandez, and Nithya RAMAN introduced the motion.

Council member Soto-Martinez noted that more than 1 out of 3 people who live in Los Angeles are immigrants.

“Los Angeles is a city of immigrants,” Hernandez said. “As the daughter of two Mexican immigrants myself, I know how important and overdue these protections are to our community members. Internal policies that can be changed from one day to the next are not enough. Our undocumented residents deserve safety and security. It is long past time for Los Angeles to permanently codify protections for our undocumented community members into city law.”

According to the motion municipal staff will be charged with creating an ordinance, which would codify a directive issued by Eric Garcetti in 2017. This 2017 directive prohibited the use any public assets or personnel for federal immigration enforcement.

The motion will specifically prohibit the city’s asking about someone’s immigration status.

The Los Angeles Police Department had prohibited immigration enforcement participation since 1979. The policies prohibit contact solely on the basis of immigration status. They also forbid immigration agents having access to prisons and inmates without a valid federal warrant.