In preparation for Donald Trump taking office, the Long Beach City Council approved a handful of measures Tuesday night to strengthen the city’s immigrant protection laws. But local immigrant rights groups say the actions taken are not nearly enough.
Long Beach is just the latest municipality to bolster its laws before the start of a second Trump presidential term. In the days following the November election, California began devising ways to “Trump-proof” the state, and Los Angeles formally adopted a sanctuary city law to protect its immigrants on Dec. 4, 2024.
“LA already did this, we’re a little behind. We have to do this now,” said Gaby Hernandez, executive director of Organizing Rooted in Abolition, Liberation and Empowerment (ÓRALE), who is leading the group of organizations asking the city to bolster its laws to protect vulnerable communities.
When Hernandez spoke to the Signal Tribune on Jan. 6, she was determined and hopeful the city council would see the urgency and importance of all of their demands, and that council members would expedite their decision to protect the city’s immigrants before the Trump administration began.
Background of the Long Beach Values Act
It’s a repeat of lessons learned during the first Trump administration, when staunch blue states passed measures to defy certain federal actions.
One such measure was Senate Bill 54 (The California Values Act) which was passed in 2017, and prohibits state and local law enforcement from working with federal immigration enforcement. This was in direct response to Executive Order 13768, which threatened to withhold federal funds from cities that didn’t cooperate with immigration enforcement.
Following suit with California legislation, many cities the following year penned ordinances which took the California Values Act steps further.
Long Beach passed the Long Beach Values Act in 2018, which added more specific limits on the kind of data a local agency is allowed to collect and share with immigration enforcement. This data includes:
- A person’s status as a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault
- A person’s status as a victim or witness to a crime
- Status as a recipient of public assistance
- Religious affiliation
- Sexual orientation
- Biological sex or gender identity
- Place of birth
- Race
- Disability
The Long Beach Values Act also included the creation of the Long Beach Justice Fund, which provides free legal defense to residents facing deportation.
What Did the Community Ask For?
Following campaign promises from Trump to roll out the “largest deportation operation in the history of our country,” the Long Beach community has been demanding stronger protections.
On Dec. 14, ÓRALE, the Filipino Migrant Center and Long Beach Forward held a press conference in front of Long Beach City Hall asking that the City strengthen the Long Beach Values Act.
ÓRALE also spearheaded an effort with 18 local organizations to send a letter to the mayor, councilmembers and local leaders on Dec. 9, 2024. The letter included five specific demands to ensure the safety of Long Beach’s immigrant community, yet the strongest of these actions were not discussed by the council Tuesday night.
Changes to the Long Beach Values Act suggested by the Immigrant Rights Coalition include:
- Expanding the scope of the data collecting and sharing guidelines to all City offices, departments, elected officials, employees, officers, appointees and agents. Changes that would decrease the scope would have to be announced publicly a month in advance to those changes, have three opportunities for public comment and would have to be reviewed by the Community Oversight Committee.
- Ensure enforcement through private right of action, allowing individuals to sue for enforcement and seek damages if their rights under the Long Beach Values Act are violated.
- Removing exclusions in SB 54 that discard protections from immigrants who meet “one or more of the criminal background conditions” and allow for cooperation between local law enforcement and immigration enforcement in these matters.
- Prohibiting the use of City resources, personnel and property for purposes related to immigration enforcement.
- Strengthening data sharing practices to make sure the City is not inadvertently sharing residents’ information with ICE. Among the eight suggestions listed was requiring the deletion of any information collected or sold in violation of this section in a timely manner, no longer than thirty (30) days after the request.
The most consistent request from residents Tuesday night was for Long Beach to remove exclusions that exist in SB 54 that allow local law enforcement to cooperate with immigration enforcement. The exception exists for those “with criminal histories involving serious and violent crimes.”
Hernandez was also adamant that in order for any of these protections to have power, residents need the ability to sue their local agencies if their rights are violated, and for those who violate them to face penalties. This “private right of action” was also brought up by many community members at Tuesday night’s meeting.
While the City did allocate another $200,000 in funding for the Long Beach Justice Fund Tuesday night, ÓRALE and other immigrant rights groups have long been asking for structural funds. As of now, the Justice Fund is entirely dependent on the City allocating one-time use dollars with each annual budget, with no guarantee of renewal year-to-year.
“I applaud the city for taking an initiative in adding that, but to me what would show solidarity is a stronger policy that removes exclusions and that protects all immigrants regardless of their past,” Hernandez said. “This is what I’ve told the mayor and I’ve told all the city council, this is the minimum of what they can do. This is again, the floor of what they can do. A lot of people, especially after Trump, are saying, ‘How do we protect immigrants, how do we show up for folks?’ At the city level, this is the least they can do.”
The council did not discuss removing the current exclusions in SB 54 that impact those with a criminal background, nor did they discuss ensuring a private right of action, despite the fact that nearly half the residents who spoke during public comment asked for these protections to be added.
“Administrations in the past, not just Trump, have used the vast network of information sharing to target and deport immigrants, especially the criminal legal system,” said resident Erik Garcia. “This is why getting rid of the exceptions or carve-outs in the statewide legislation should also be a priority, especially when you consider the number of people who have completed their sentences and were still doubly punished and deported, when under any other circumstance they would be allowed to reintegrate into society and come home.”
What Did the City Pass?
“We know based on past experiences that it’s going to be a challenge these next few years. I’m confident that if we continue to work together, if we continue to support one another, we’re going to get through this,” said Mayor Rex Richardson. “Leadership in Washington may come and go, but we should not waiver or move on our values.”
Richardson acknowledged that the City had met with several organizations to hear their recommendations before drafting the updates to the Values Act, and said that “many of those recommendations are reflected in the item.”
The Long Beach City Council passed these updates to the Long Beach Values Act:
- Broadening the scope of compliance with the act to include more City entities, such as the Port of Long Beach, Long Beach Utilities, City Clerk, City Prosecutor, City Auditor, City Attorney, Police Oversight Committee, Long Beach Unified School District board, Long Beach City College board, Long Beach Transit, the Convention Center and the Legislative Department.
- Expanding data protection rules to contracts the City makes with independent third parties to make sure data is not inadvertently shared with immigration enforcement.
- An additional $200,000 to the Long Beach Justice Fund.
- The Office of Equity will establish multilingual guides on navigating local services such as healthcare, housing, legal resources, lists of local immigrant-serving organizations as well as their rights.
- Review and determine the feasibility of additional community requests.
Councilmember Joni Ricks-Oddie requested the council return in six months to review the changes to the Long Beach Values Act to determine if additional measures are necessary.
