Coalition demands Long Beach City Council strengthen immigrant protection

Angela, who has been living in the U.S. for more than 20 years, can’t stay silent anymore after seeing the constant ICE raids happening across the country. 

On Tuesday, she spoke at a press conference in front of Long Beach City Hall, asking the council members to strengthen local protections for immigrants by amending the Long Beach Values Act, which is the city's sanctuary policy. 

“Now that the federal government has allocated more money to ICE, we are very scared to go out to work, to the market, to take kids to school,” she said. 

Angela, who didn’t provide her last name, said that last year, when the raids started in the Los Angeles area, ICE arrived near the building where she lives in Long Beach. 

“I couldn’t believe they were so close to my home,” she said. “As I closed the door, I felt I couldn’t breathe. I imagined the agents knocking on my door.”

She said the raids lasted for about a month. She didn’t get out of her building. Her son did all the errands and she understood the feeling many people were experiencing. 

“That’s why we are here asking the city to do everything possible to protect us,” she said. “We also want the city to protect our private information and that they don’t permit ICE agents to utilize our city-owned public property for staging and training.”

Sheyla Diaz, organizer with Long Beach for a Just Economy, said this summer is not much different from last year’s, with families still living in terror due to the constant ICE raids.

“When communities live in fear, it is the responsibility of our local governments to do everything they can in their power to protect their constituents, regardless of documentation status,” she said. “Long Beach City Council, your community urges you to stand up and fight for them. Protect our families and our friends.” 

The demands

Fernando Acevedo, ÓRALE Community Lawyer, said the Long Beach Justice Fund Coalition, a coalition of local organizations serving immigrant families, has been advocating since January for the council to make appropriate changes. However, because the council kept delaying the vote, they decided to speak up. 

He said they are asking for the following amendments to strengthen the Long Beach Values Act, which was first approved in 2018:

• Eliminate SB 54 exclusions and expand protections

• Ban local use of surveillance technology

• Strengthen city contracts to respond to Long Beach Values Act violations

• Adopting a private right of action

• Adopt stronger signage and clarify the City's prohibition of the use of city public areas for immigration enforcement

• Prohibiting Long Beach Police Department cooperation or employment with immigration enforcement

The coalition also asked the Long Beach City Council to increase the funding from $1 million to $3 million, as it was originally requested.

Next steps

After the press conference, members of the coalition spoke during the public comment portion of the council meeting. While the item wasn’t agendized and wasn’t voted on, Acevedo said they made their presence known to put pressure on the council to book it. 

“The reason why it’s not happening today is because the city has shifted their attention to the budget and for us it looks like it might happen after budget season, which is going to end in mid-September, maybe October,” he said.

Mayor Rex Richardson and Vice-Mayor Roberto Uranga have shown strong support for the demands. The remaining seven have shown interest but not openly. 

CALÓ News attempted to obtain a comment from the Long Beach City Council but hasn’t yet received a response.