A draft of a new sanctuary city ordinance that would enshrine protections for undocumented immigrants was released this week for the L.A. City Council to consider.
The proposed ordinance, released late Tuesday, comes more than a year and a half after the City Council approved a motion to draft it. Mayor Karen Bass said she and City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto worked with immigrant rights groups over the weekend to expedite the process.
“Especially in the face of growing threats to the immigrant communities here in Los Angeles, I stand with the people of this city,” Bass said in a statement. “This moment demands urgency. Immigrant protections make our community stronger and our city better.”
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The effort to officially make L.A. a sanctuary city follows President-elect Donald Trump’s promise of the largest deportation effort in U.S. history.
Protesters gathered in downtown L.A. over the weekend, calling for officials to adopt an ordinance that would stop the city from cooperating with immigration enforcement. Legislation approved by the City Council in June of 2023 pushed for such an ordinance to be created within 60 days.
Under the proposed ordinance, available for viewing here, city personnel cannot:
- Inquire into or gather information on a person’s citizenship
- Investigate, cite, arrest or detain a person to enforce federal immigration law
- Provide federal immigration agents access to non-public areas of City property without a valid warrant
- Participate in any immigration enforcement operation involving federal immigration agents
- Provide access to any information that can be used to trace a person’s citizenship or immigration status to federal immigration agents
The drafted ordinance must now go before the full City Council for review and approval.
