Eight years ago, political leaders in Los Angeles took action on immigration, seeking to protect the city’s undocumented residents from the Trump administration.
City Council members spent public money on lawyers to protect Angelenos facing deportation. They pushed for the legalization of the activities of street vendors, many of whom do not have citizenship. And they established a new committee focused on immigration.
There was a sense of deja vu at City Hall this week as political leaders geared up for a rematch with President-elect Donald Trump.
In the face of President Trump’s promised immigration crackdown, several members of the City Council said Friday they would expedite passage of a “sanctuary” law in Los Angeles. Los Angeles’ passage of a “sanctuary” law is still under review by the city attorney.
The ordinance, first proposed last year and modeled after a San Francisco law, would prohibit federal immigration enforcement agents from accessing city databases.
On Friday, seven city council members also signed a resolution calling on President Biden to update the program that allows Central American illegal immigrants to temporarily stay in the United States Los Angeles is the most populous city in Central America outside of Latin America.
City Councilman Hugo Sotomartínez, one of the resolution’s sponsors, said his family, East Side constituents and immigrant rights groups are all “extremely nervous.”
“More than anything, people are angry,” said SotoMartinez, head of the city’s Immigration Commission. “They’re excited and ready to fight back, just like we were in 2016.”
Other City Council members said they fear funding for homeless assistance will be cut off after Tuesday’s election. Others are concerned about whether the heavily Democratic city will be able to secure federal security and transportation funding for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Hosting international sporting events is already a financial risk, as the city is responsible for cost overruns.
City Council member Paul Krekorian, who was in Paris for the recent Summer Olympics, said Trump’s election “predicts a difficult four years for our city on many levels, especially with regard to various programs.” Access to federal funds for the Olympics.
The city of Los Angeles is expected to receive about $355 million in federal aid this fiscal year, according to the City Administration Department.
That doesn’t include the federal money that flows to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, a joint city-county agency, or the federal money that flows into the region through the Federal Emergency Management Agency after major disasters.
City officials expressed concern that Trump, a volatile leader prone to holding grudges, would retaliate against California and the city of Los Angeles for blaming Democratic leadership.
President Trump’s recent threat to cut off federal disaster aid for California’s wildfires was a comment that struck a chord with City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, who works closely with the city’s fire department.
“That’s not democracy,” Rodriguez said Tuesday night, referring to the San Fernando Valley area, which includes wildfire-prone areas. “That’s not how it’s supposed to work.”
Rodriguez served on the council during the Trump administration, when the U.S. Department of Justice was involved in a dispute over whether federal funds could be seized if city officials refused to cooperate with immigration authorities. It has been in regular court battles with the city of Los Angeles.
Mayor Karen Bass served as a lawmaker during President Trump’s first term and has repeatedly criticized the then-president. In 2020, she called him a “lawless” president who wants to be an “authoritarian leader.”
Since winning the 2022 mayoral race, she has made ending street homelessness a top priority, working closely with the Biden administration to increase housing subsidies and ensure homeless Angelenos receive federally funded apartments. They have lobbied for new rules to help them qualify for occupancy.
Asked Thursday if he was worried about losing federal funding with President Trump in office, Bass gave a broad answer.
Angelenos will not tolerate “those who divide us or pit groups against each other,” she said. “We’ve done it before, and we’ll do it again.”
Council President Marquise Harris-Dawson also told reporters this week that it is the job of the council and the mayor to “make sure everyone in this city feels protected and safe, including immigrants.” He tried to reassure Angelenos.
According to USC’s Equity Institute, there are approximately 800,000 undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles County, including many families with mixed status. More than 70 percent of the county’s illegal aliens have been in the country for more than 10 years, according to the institute.
Manuel Pastor, the institute’s director, said immigration will be the biggest source of tension between city governments and the Trump administration. At the same time, the City Council has become more progressive since 2016, he said.
City leaders regularly speak about immigrants in personal terms. Tenant rights lawyer and City Council member Isabel Jurado won a seat representing part of the East Side this week after running a campaign highlighting undocumented Filipino parents.
Despite that assurance, city councils and buses have limited powers to prevent deportations.
The city also faces a financial crisis that could limit its ability to pay for programs currently sought by immigrant groups, such as free lawyers for people at risk of deportation.
At a rally Thursday in front of City Hall, some immigrant rights leaders called on city officials to fund efforts to warn communities of deportation raids.
Maci Fouradi, executive director of the California Immigration Policy Center, said Los Angeles needs to provide “unprecedented investment” in these programs because of President Trump.
Harris-Dawson suggested on Friday that the council could take further action on immigration in the coming weeks. He also suggested that some city officials are taking a wait-and-see attitude regarding President Trump’s plans.
“Some of us, for reasons we don’t know, want to give the president the benefit of the doubt and see what happens instead of reacting before something actually happens.” he said.
City Council member Eunice Hernandez, whose district includes the immigrant-heavy Pico Union district, was not among those waiting. She told the Times that officials need to “retrain” themselves on how to protect immigrant communities.
Trump “has been very clear about what he wants to do,” she said.
Times staff writer David Zahnizer contributed to this report.
