City Manager, Council Say Report on Potential Immigration Policies a ‘Good Start’

The City Council discussed a report on direction to mitigate the impacts of immigration enforcement overreach on City resources, property and community safety on Monday.

Among the proposals under development is a policy restricting the use of city-owned or controlled properties — including parking lots, garages and non-public areas of facilities — as staging or processing sites for immigration enforcement operations. The policy would include exceptions required by law, such as judicial warrants and criminal investigations.

The Pasadena Police Department is also formalizing protocols for responding to immigration enforcement activity. Under the policy, officers would be required to activate body-worn cameras, document incidents and refrain from assisting in federal immigration actions while maintaining public safety.

But even with signs prohibiting ICE from using City property, local officials can only take limited actions against immigration officials.

Some council members wanted more action taken.

“If we can’t do anything we should all know,” said Councilmember Tyron Hampton.

Hampton called for the City to, at least, ticket government vehicles using City property to stage for immigration raids and detentions.

Local police could be charged with obstructing or interfering with federal officials if they ticket or tow vehicles they know are being used by immigration officials.

Police will tape encounters if immigration officials violate City policy and move that to federal officials. The tapes could also be used to support a civil case.

“It’s our property and I think we should do everything we can to protect it,” said Rick Cole. “I understand and respect the prudence that is being exercised here. Our job is to protect the health and safety of our residents. I do not consider ICE a law enforcement agency. It has been turned into a lawless agency and judges have documented hundreds of cases where they have defied court orders. This is not a counterpart or partner. This is an agency hellbent on violating the rights of our citizens and our residents.”

Cole also called on policies that would allow the City to cite immigration officials for violating local laws, and requested those policies be reviewed by the City Council’s Public Safety Committee and the police oversight commission.

“I do not want to put our officers in harm’s way,” said Cole. “I don’t want to put our City in harm’s way, but right now residents of our City are in harm’s way.”

Cole introduced a successful motion that will allow the Homeless, Housing and Planning Committee to examine the City’s zoning code.

The motion also called on the Community Police Oversight Commission to agendize a collaborative discussion with the police on the new policies and that staff be authorized to distribute Know Your Rights Materials and the City Attorney draft an ordinance.

City staff have already begun posting signage at municipal facilities limiting access to non-public areas and are preparing additional signs to explicitly prohibit the use of city property for immigration enforcement purposes.

Lyon called the proposed policies largely performative and called for more creative policy.

“How do we intend to give this teeth if we are going to put up signs?” said Councilmember Jason Lyon.

Lyon called on signage prohibiting using City property for “warrantless detentions.”

Rivas called for an ordinance that could be enforced after the fact with civil action.

“It’s the least we can do and who knows how far it can get,” said Vice Mayor Jess Rivas.

The City Council also voiced support on a policy that would ban detention centers or concentration camps in the City.

“I’m very close to that subject because my grandparents and my parents were in those internment camps,” said Councilmember Gene Masuda, whose family was in a camp during World War II after President Franklin Roosevelt authorized the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans from the West Coast just two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

“It shows you where federal law can really hurt certain classes of people,” Masuda said. “And it sounds like it’s a logical thing, but it wasn’t. It was just terrible. So I thank you for saying follow the rule of law, protect yourselves. Our job as council members is to protect our community and our residents, and we should never forget that.”

Although some members of the City Council wanted policies with more teeth, every member praised the staff for the work done on Monday’s report.

Councilmember Steve Madison, a former federal prosecutor, said he was ashamed of what has happened to the justice department.

“Every statistic shows that immigrants are far less likely to commit crimes than persons that are citizens by birth or naturalization,” said Madison. “If you’re here to provide a better life for yourself and your family, you’re here to work probably a backbreaking job at wages that many of those of us that were fortunate enough to be born here might not do. The last thing you want to do is jeopardize that and leave your family in the lurch like that.”

Madison added that if the country ever returns to normalcy and restores the values and norms of our democracy, there is a place for appropriate use of immigration law.

Madison pointed to the 2015 fatal officer involved shooting of Kendrec McDade. In that case, McDade was fatally shot after stealing a briefcase from a vehicle at a taco stand. The owner of the vehicle, who was in the country illegally, falsely claimed he was robbed of the briefcase at gunpoint.

Based on that claim, police rolled out at Code 3 and fatally shot McDade after a pursuit. The man who lied to police was later deported.

“It seems like this isn’t fully baked and this will come back to us. I’d be happy to see it at Leg [Legislative] Policy or Public Safety,” Madison said.

City Manager Miguel Márquez called the report a good start, and said it should go to City Council committees.

“It has been a very difficult issue for us,” Márquez said. “We reached out to our sister jurisdictions and they are struggling with this also. We value our employees, and as we think through this, we think about how we push back. Let’s document, preserve and push back, instead of asking our employees to violate the law.”