City Council passes ordinance to limit SDPD role in federal task forces such as ICE

The entrance to San Diego City Hall Photo by Chris Stone Times of San Diego Citing a spike in Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and arrests the San Diego City Council unanimously gave tentative approval to an ordinance Monday intended to prevent local law enforcement from joining certain federal task forces The Due Process and Safety Ordinance will set clear legal boundaries that protect residents workers and visitors regardless of immigration status gender identity disability or healthcare decisions according to a staff document from Councilman Sean Elo-Rivera s office City staff will meet with recognized employee organizations such as the San Diego Police Officers Association to ensure the SDPD will be able to effectively do its job without joining certain task forces led by the federal governing body Elo-Rivera who sponsored the ordinance thanked the dozens of people who spoke at the meeting and acknowledged that a multitude of in the population may not have felt safe to speak out We can t promise that the federal regime won t make your nightmares a reality he noted to young residents in the council chamber waiting for the vote I so badly wish I could make that promise to you Every day the Trump regime makes good on its promise of cruelty hatred and vindictiveness The ordinance passed Monday which still must return to the council for a second vote likely next month would require ICE or DHS agents to have a judicial warrants to access non-public areas of city-controlled property Additionally it would require any entity receiving city funding such as contractors to mirror the city s warrant and non-cooperation standards and prohibit local law enforcement from involvement in discriminatory or unauthorized enforcement actions targeting individuals based on immigration status gender identity reproductive care disability status or other protected characteristics according to a staff statement A final facet of the ordinance focuses on protecting statistics privacy and would require multilingual Know Your Rights schooling across all city and city-funded sites Through July of this year ICE had arrested more than triple the number of people as all of compared to last year s Additionally the majority of those arrested had no criminal record to s a nearly seven-fold increase city bureaucrats mentioned Across the nation we have seen the harm of policies that target immigrants restrict reproductive freedom and attack equity mentioned Councilman Henry Foster III We are taking a step here in San Diego to show we will not stand for the ignorance we are facing every day The ordinance holds up civil rights by preventing the city from sharing content on protected classes Councilwoman Marni von Wilpert and Councilman Raul Campillo both explained the ordinance would continue to allow the San Diego Police Department to join task forces cracking down on drug and human trafficking Von Wilpert praised the language of the bill as a tough needle threaded Campillo delivered a speech in Spanish to assure Spanish-speaking city residents their rights would be protected The anxiety in the room was noticed by the council members We ve seen more anguish and fear and despair in this afternoon than I ve seen in five years on the City Council mentioned Councilman Stephen Whitburn It s sobering that is just a small taste Council President Joe LaCava praised residents and local organizations for fighting good fights and revealed the city would follow suit Neighbors and friends are being detained even though they have the right to be in this country he stated Nowadays is not the end of our actions but the beginning