E-Paper
Is Los Angeles a sanctuary city? Here's what we know about the city's right to protect undocumented immigrants
A "sanctuary city" ordinance is meant to stop the use of city resources and personnel to carry out federal immigration enforcement.
Amid the anti-ICE riots taking over the streets of Los Angeles, many are wondering whether LA is a sanctuary city, which in general limits or denies cooperation when asked to help the national government enforce immigration laws. Notably, in November 2024, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed a "sanctuary city" ordinance to protect immigrants who live in the city. The policy is meant to stop the use of city resources and personnel to carry out federal immigration enforcement.
The move last year followed Donald Trump’s promise to carry out mass deportations of immigrants. Before the vote, pro-immigrant protesters were seen speaking on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall, as reported by Reuters. They held up signs saying, "Los Angeles Sanctuary City Now!" They also chanted in Spanish, "What do we want? Sanctuary. When do we want it? Now."
Nithya Raman, an immigrant who came to the US when she was just six years old, called it a “common sense policy.” The Los Angeles City Councilmember for the 4th District since 2020 is a member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America who defeated incumbent Councilmember David Ryu in 2020. She said in a newsletter last year, “LA’s new Sanctuary City Ordinance permanently enshrines sanctuary policies into municipal law and prohibits the use of City resources, including property and personnel, from being utilized for immigration enforcement or to cooperate with federal immigration agents engaged in immigration enforcement. The Ordinance also goes beyond our existing Sanctuary City Executive Directive in an important way: it prohibits the direct and indirect sharing of data with federal immigration authorities, an important gap to close in our city’s protections for immigrants.”
What is a sanctuary city?
According to Britannica, “A sanctuary city is an American municipality that limits local enforcement of federal immigration laws to protect undocumented immigrants. Such policies are established at a city, state, or county level and may be formally enforced or a de facto practice. Although there is no official definition of a sanctuary city, such cities typically enact one or more immigration-inclusive policies.”
After the raids in Los Angeles, Andres Kwon, attorney and senior policy counsel at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, issued a statement weighing in on the city’s sanctuary status. “Angelenos know that immigrants make up the fabric of this beautiful and diverse city. It is because of their strength and courage that our city leaders recently designated Los Angeles a sanctuary—promising to keep families together and defy the Trump administration's cruel and inhumane actions,” Kwon said.
“Today, city leaders broke their promise. LAPD officers assisted federal agents in terrorizing L.A. neighborhoods—impeding people from going to work, making their immigration court appearances, or attending their children’s graduations,” the statement added, urging elected officials to to take “all action necessary to grind this oppressive and vile paramilitary operation to a halt and keep our city safe and whole.”
On Sunday morning, June 8, the first members of the National Guard arrived in Los Angeles following Trump’s order to deploy 2,000 troops in the city. The US President has hailed the National Guard, and slammed LA Mayor Karen Bass and California Gavin Newsom for being “unable to handle the tasks” of calming the city, according to the New York Post.
