The Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed an ordinance on Tuesday to make the southern California city a sanctuary for illegal immigrants, as president-elect Donald Trump vows to carry out mass deportations during his second term.
The ordinance, which passed the city council with a 13-0 vote, will prohibit city officers and resources from being used to enforce federal immigration laws, except under limited circumstances. The legislation will likely be signed into law by Democratic mayor Karen Bass, as she released the draft ordinance last week in the wake of Trump’s reelection victory.
Bass and city attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto worked with pro-immigration groups to prepare the draft. “This moment demands urgency. Immigrant protections make our communities stronger and our city better,” Bass said.
In the two weeks since the presidential election, Trump has promised to crack down on illegal immigration once he returns to the White House in January. The Republican president-elect then picked Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to serve as the next border czar — the title that Trump and Republicans gave Vice President Kamala Harris to highlight her failures on securing the southern border.
Homan’s responsibilities will include oversight of the planned mass deportations of illegal immigrants, which he believes are necessary to get the border crisis under control. Homan, who served in the first Trump administration, previously vowed to run the largest deportation operation in U.S. history if Trump won the election.
Homan said the incoming Trump administration will prioritize threats to public safety and national security in its immigration agenda. He has maintained that the mass deportations will be “humane.”
On Monday, Trump announced he will declare a national emergency and use the military to execute the mass deportations in his goal to reverse the damage that President Joe Biden’s open-border policies have caused in the past four years.
Los Angeles is one Democratic stronghold that has signaled opposition to Trump’s strict immigration policy. Boston mayor Michelle Wu and Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson have both reiterated that their respective cities will remain sanctuaries for illegal immigrants in defiance of Trump’s deportation efforts.
In Los Angeles, police chief Jim McDonnell has confirmed officers will not participate in immigration enforcement after Bass signs the sanctuary-city ordinance. The Los Angeles Police Department already prohibits its officers from inquiring about immigration status or arresting an immigrant based on their legal status.
In 2019, former Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti issued an executive directive that offered protections to immigrants. Though Los Angeles has abided by sanctuary-city guidelines, those protections were never codified into law.
“This law is about making Los Angeles, through law, a sanctuary city and ensuring that all Angelenos can interact with our government without the fear that Donald Trump’s deportation squad is around the corner,” said Democratic councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, who introduced the motion last year.
The Republican Party of Los Angeles County meanwhile criticized the law, suggesting it would be a disaster.
“A country without secure borders isn’t a country at all. So-called ‘sanctuary’ cities and states sound warm and fuzzy, but the protections they offer aren’t for abuelas getting ice cream, they’re for people who’ve entered the country illegally and committed additional crimes,” the party posted on X. “Whether drunk driving, robbery, sexual violence, assault or murder, none of those should go unpunished. Perpetrators should definitely not be protected by the largesse taken from hard-working taxpayers.”
“If the City of Los Angeles would like to have thriving, safe, clean streets and businesses in time for the Olympics, maybe they could accept the will of the people who recently tossed George Gascon out on his ear and focus on public safety for everyone.”