Huntington Beach will walk fine line and seek to better coordinate with Ice on arrests for offense – Orange County Register

Police from Huntington Beach will strive to better coordinate with the US immigration and customs forces when the police reserve people in the city prison for arrest for offense, but “will walk this fine line” so as not to rape The so-called law of the state sanctuary, said a spokesperson for the city.

The municipal council declared Huntington Beach a “non -sanctuary city” at its meeting of January 21, one day after the Trump administration took power, the members of the Council denouncing limits California Values ​​Act, or SB 54 , sets up cooperation between the police and federal application immigration, risking community security.

Jennifer Carey, city spokesperson, said Huntington Beach officials will do what they can coordinate with ice for offense reservations and “try to walk this final line” between the city’s resolution no Sanctual of the Council and California Values ​​Act.

“We do not necessarily modify our policies or do not work outside the SB 54 or do not take into account the law of the state,” she added.

The elected leaders of Huntington Beach did not hide their poor vision of the law of the State sanctuary. SB 54 is also the target of a federal trial filed by the city on January 7 which seeks to have it declared unconstitutional.

Immigration activists have said that the declaration of city leaders threatens the Latin American community and makes the city even more unimportant.

Immigration application

As a rule, among the cities where someone is reserved for an offense, it is connected to a database that ice monitors, and this practice will continue, said Carey.

Huntington Beach police will have this person in detention for around four to eight hours, Carey said. Now, during this time, police officials will work to better coordinate with the ice, she said. “We say that we are happy to work in the coordination process with you in a better way, which many cities would not do.”

When Huntington Beach police arrest someone for a crime, they are finally transported to the Sheriff’s Department of Orange County and would then be subject to the policies of this department, she said.

Huntington Beach will not be, said Carey, taking people in police custody without suspicion that they have entered illegally into the country; It is the federal work of the application of laws. The quotes issued for traffic offenses and a burst of backhand are distinct from arrests and would not see people connected in the database, said Carey.

The Huntington Beach police captain Oscar Garcia, in a town hall on January 27, held in the district largely Latin Oak View to answer questions about the declaration of the non -sanctuary of the Council stressed that ‘It is important that the community works with local police on surveys. He said that people can always live their daily life without worry that the Huntington Beach police will be the one who applies the Immigration Act.

However, an arrest for an alleged crime of offense could lead to the coordination of the Huntington Beach police with authorities like ice.

While the nation fights with a new immigration landscape brought by the Trump administration, the elected officials of Huntington Beach acted quickly to distance themselves from the law on the values ​​of California, the so-called law of the sanctuary of the state sanctuary Adopted during the first Trump administration and clearly indicates that they support the renewed repression against the arrest of people who have entered the country illegally.

When the municipal council unanimously adopted its resolution of the non -sanctuary city one day after the inauguration of Trump, Mayor Pat Burns described it as a message to “potential criminals” so as not to come to Huntington Beach. He also showed a little Trump bust in his place on the platform.

Victor Valladares, the co-founder of Oak View Comunidad, a community organization that shares the name of the district he serves, said that the Latin American community had already been more tired of being in Huntington Beach in recent months and that the resolution of the non -sanctional city was more worsened.

“People are afraid of going down to Huntington Beach,” said Valladares, “and it’s unfortunate. How do you demystify or fight against these anti-immigrant policies?”

Valladares said Oak View was once known as “Slater slums”, but years of community advocacy have helped to keep the community away from the derogatory name. Valladares said the resolution sent a harmful message to the community and is another chapter in the history of the city where activists have received generalized attention for their ardent anti-immigrant opinions.

“For me, this is the code to continue the Latin community,” said Valladares “I think it is a direct attack on our community.”

City in disagreement with the state

The Huntington Beach trial filed in early January to obtain the California values ​​law, this is the second time that the city has continued to cancel the law. The municipal council of San Clemente, during its last meeting, discussed joining the trial of Huntington Beach, but finally decided not to do so.

The city’s prosecutor, Michael Gates, argued that it is important to report a desire to cooperate and work with the application of immigration, because the Trump administration indicated that it will go after the application of the law that is held on the way.

“The state has created the conflict with the federal government,” said Gates. “The city wants to ensure the security of our communities, including our immigrant communities. This necessarily includes criminals who are also illegal immigrants. »»

The Office of the Attorney General of the State postponed the “wave threats” of the Trump administration and said that it would decide to take action if the federal government proceeded to target the police for lack of cooperation. The Prosecutor General’s office did not directly comment on the Declaration of the Non -sanctional City of Huntington Beach.

Valladares, who works with OC Rapid Response Network, which is a group of groups seeking to report ice observations and helping people understand their rights when they interact with the application of immigration, said That there had been recent ice observations in the County of Orange, but they appeared to have been targeted arrests, not mass expulsion operations.

He said that the main advice he gives to people is not to spread online disinformation on ice observations and to broadcast only photos or videos they have taken themselves.

Andres Kwon, an American Civil Union Liberties Union of Southern California Policy Counsel and Organizer, said that he did not have the wisdom to make a report on whether people should or should not avoid Huntington Beach S ‘ They feared being caught up by the application of immigration.

But, said Kwon, the thrust of California Values ​​Act is to ensure that immigrant communities continue to work with the police, and the city declaration can be contrary to this.

The Coordinator of the response of the Sandra network of Anda said that there had been a decline in the first years of this decade in ice arrests. De Anda said that the group had noted a sharp increase in ice transfers from the Sheriff department in 2023, from 17 in 2022 to more than 220 in 2023.

De Anda said it is important that people know that during the eight years since the group’s creation, around 75% of ice arrests have occurred in the Sheriff OC, whose others were arrests at targeted domicile.

The sheriff of the County of Orange, Don Barnes, said in January that his department will not ask questions about their immigration status and “provides for your security and will answer your service calls, whatever your immigration status ».

De Anda said that the OCRRN strives to distribute immigration leaflets “know your rights” throughout the county, including in the Oak View district, that it called the essential work to fight against fear.

She said they hear about the members of the undocumented community who are afraid of reporting crimes in the police or the sheriff even when they are themselves victims of a crime.

“There is this distrust,” she said.