LA’s Sanctuary Law Must be a Launching Point

LOS ANGELES, CA — In response to the unanimous first vote on a sanctuary city law by the LA City Council on Tuesday, November 19, NDLON Campaign Director Salvador G Sarmiento made the following statement: “It took the threat of mass deportations to remind Mayor Bass and the City Council about their love of immigrants in LA, and to do what they should have done years eight years ago.  It may have also been the thousands of people that denounced the appointment of Jim McDonnell as LAPD Chief last week, and the many more who called for the city to stop making excuses and enact a sanctuary law.

“This week’s sanctuary-city vote in LA should remind us all that there is much that city officials nationwide can do to thwart Trump‘s mass-deportation threats — enacting bright-line sanctuary policies is a good first step.  But it is just that — a first step.  And with the fanatical threats being made today, this sanctuary policy in LA isn’t going to cut it.  It’s a necessary first step.  But it must be a launching point for a clear-eyed and comprehensive plan to defend civil and human rights, not the end of it.”

The policy would ensure LA city officials and resources are not utilized to advance Donald Trump and ICE’s efforts to investigate, profile, target, arrest, hold, transfer or detain people in Los Angeles. For more information about sanctuary cities and the national effort by communities to opt-out of ICE’s deportation dragnet program S-COMM, see https://ndlon.org/our-work/immigrant-rights/alto-polimigra/

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