Last week, ABC News’ Martha Raddatz interviewed Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and asked her, “When you look at the raids and the deportations, just tell me who you think should be deported. Is it just people who have been convicted of crimes? You have, what, almost a million undocumented workers in Los Angeles? What should happen to those people?”
For reference, the population of the city of Los Angeles is about 3.8 million. So that would mean the undocumented workforce is equivalent to one-fourth of the population.
Mayor Bass answered Raddatz’s question by first erasing the distinction between legal and illegal immigration. “We are a city of immigrants, we have entire sectors of our economy that are dependent on immigrant labor,” she said. “We have to get the fire areas rebuilt. We are not going to get our city rebuilt without immigrant labor.” Then she talked about “the fear that sets in when raids occur, when people are snatched off the street.”
Los Angeles is a “sanctuary city” and the Department of Homeland Security has vowed to prioritize “sanctuary cities” for enforcement. “Border czar” Tom Homan has repeatedly made the point that if cities and counties refuse to allow federal officers in their jails to take custody of illegal immigrants who have ICE detainers or removal orders, then federal officers will have to go out into the community to arrest them, putting many other people at risk.
It’s the “sanctuary” laws, state and local, that are responsible for the “raids” and fear that people will be “snatched off the street.” Who voted for laws that protect criminals from law enforcement, and why?
In the beginning, there was Special Order 40, an LAPD policy signed by Police Chief Daryl Gates in November 1979. The order stated that “undocumented alien status in itself” was “not a matter for police action.” It cited the need for “a high degree of cooperation” from “substantial numbers of people from different ethnic and sociological backgrounds migrating to this City.” Because of their status, the order said, undocumented immigrants were “often more vulnerable to victimization.” The purpose of the policy was to ensure that victims and witnesses were not afraid to talk to the police, not to shield criminals from federal law enforcement officers.
Six years later, in November 1985, then-City Councilman Mike Woo backed a sanctuary city resolution that would codify and extend the protection beyond an LAPD policy to all city departments. Although it applied only to refugees, the measure was fiercely opposed. It squeaked to passage, 8-6.
Two months later, with City Councilman Ernani Bernardi planning a city ballot measure to let voters decide the issue, the City Council voted 11-1 to repeal the sanctuary resolution and then voted unanimously to approve essentially the same measure, but without the word “sanctuary.”
Later that year, President Reagan signed a new law that extended amnesty to many undocumented immigrants and also required tighter border security. The border security didn’t happen, and eight years later, 59 percent of California voters said “Yes” to Proposition 187, denying non-emergency public services to undocumented immigrants. It was later overturned by a federal district court.
By 2016, a first-time candidate was filling arenas by giving speeches in which he promised to build a wall on the southern border.
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The immigration and refugee policies of the 1970s and 1980s were tangled up with Cold War politics. Today, “sanctuary” is a pillar of domestic politics. But one thing remains constant: when voters have been asked, they have not agreed to it.
Write Susan@SusanShelley.com and follow her on X @Susan_Shelley
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