Amid growing concerns about the presence of the Los Angeles Police Department at ICE raids, a committee of the Los Angeles City Council voted to approve a report that explores barring city resources from being used for immigration enforcement purposes.

The Civil Rights, Equity, Immigration, Aging and Disability Committee voted 3-0, with two members absent, recently to further the internal investigation with an updated report in 30 days.

During the March 7 meeting, Chris Espinosa from the office of the city’s chief legislative analyst and LAPD Commander German Hurtado fielded questions from council members on the current proposals for city actions to better inform employees of what to do when immigration enforcement is spotted, including creating a training website for new hires and assigning immigrant affairs liaisons in more departments.

“The city is so large with so many different employees, both full-time and part-time,” Espinoza said. “That is why we are putting (the information) into this online training platform that would require all city employees to take it; so that they’re knowledgeable and they’ve been given the opportunity to educate themselves.”

The preliminary report also recommended setting up an Immigration Incident Assessment Team to facilitate inter-department coordination and field questions. This venture would improve existing protocols and ensure materials reflect current laws.

The March 7 meeting was punctuated by a recent immigration raid where LAPD was seen assisting ICE in South LA by providing traffic control. While the city does have sanctuary laws in place that generally block such actions, Hurtado told the committee that LAPD is allowed to be mobilized by federal agencies if a federal crime is involved. In the case of the Feb. 28 raid, Chief Jim McDonnell wrote in a statement that officers were only participating in traffic control as Homeland Security attempted to arrest a person suspected of human trafficking.

Hurtado added during the meeting that LAPD’s provided traffic control because the suspect was believed to be capable of “extreme violence” and that they were acting in the interest of keeping Angelenos safe.

Despite the statement, city residents and officials remained worried and skeptical of how LAPD may be involved in future immigration enforcement. Public members, including a man who identified himself as “Adam,” urged the city council to take action.

Adam, a member of the LA Community Action Network, told the councilmembers that he worries LA’s designation as a National Special Security Event in the years leading up to the 2028 Olympics as well as information-sharing programs run by LAPD, such as Suspicious Activity Reporting and iWatch, contradict the city’s status as a sanctuary city for immigrants.

“How can we be seriously content with what it means for LAPD to adhere to anything resembling sanctuary while their own programs feed the very information that ICE and other federal law enforcement entities can, do, and will continue to use to target whoever the hell they deem targetable,” he said.

Another commenter, Quinn, urged council members to take direct action and stop the department from targeting immigrants themselves rather than brush off any incidents as “overreach” by the department.

“You must either take action and advocate for the shutting down of these programs or admit that this commission exists only to launder LAPD’s violence while the people of this city pay the price,” Quinn said.

Councilmember Imelda Padilla also expressed her frustration at the meeting. She lamented that, especially due to recent messaging from the Trump administration, anyone who enters the country without documentation would be committing a federal crime and be subject to an LAPD-enabling federal warrant. She said she also worries that continued collaborations with Homeland Security would cost the city.

“I want this federal government to know that if they want to legitimately get rid of people that contribute to our local economies, it needs to cost them,” she said. “When I’m being told that you guys are blocking off streets to help them accomplish something, with all due respect, that’s our cost, and I’m not okay with that.”

Committee Chairman Hugo Soto-Martinez stressed the importance of using this initiative to regain trust within the Los Angeles community, especially as LAPD’s assistance at the recent raid created the perception that the city may be aiding immigration enforcement. He recalled times before he was elected to the council when he saw firsthand the way that LAPD and ICE were perceived by residents. He urged his fellow councilmembers as well as the LAPD to take the opportunity provided by this report to consider how they want to rebuild that trust.

“That (perception) does go against the spirit of the sanctuary ordinance that we passed,” he said. “This is going to require all of us — this committee, the full council and all the departments — to continue to keep checking in … our communities have to have trust in the city of Los Angeles.”

The proposed plan would direct city employees to report instances of immigration enforcement through standardized forms. These reports, however, could only take place in city-owned areas. Espinoza said this is to track how many raids and ICE actions are taking place before the city can seriously consider how it can ensure none of its resources are used.

The committee voted to pass three other motions regarding immigration enforcement. The first will provide employers and employees with information about immigration enforcement and threats of raids in the workplace as well as explore the possibility of requiring places of work to post this information and hold relevant training. Other motions included a similar information dispersal for city residents and providing Esperanza Immigrant Rights programs with more funding to assist residents facing removal proceedings.

Roxana Sierra, a law clerk and Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow with the Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project, spoke about her group’s issues due to stop-work orders from the federal government and budgetary setbacks. She asked the council members to pass the motion that would allow the organization to continue representing immigrants, particularly children, and provide them with information without relying on an unpredictable federal government.

“The instability of federal funding now and over the next four years necessitates a strategic shift away from federal funds and towards local funding,” she said. “Local financial support to maintain these critical lifelines should be financially supported by local philanthropy, city, county and state.”

Yaritza Gonzalez, speaking on behalf of the Central American Resource Center, urged the committee to pass the measures providing information and support legal services for immigrants as she anticipates that attacks and threats of deportation from the federal government will grow. She praised the city for earlier actions to protect immigrants, but said more must be done.

“Now the city must double down and strengthen services that are lifelines to immigrants in LA,” she said. “The city of LA must take bold actions and stand unwavering with our immigrant communities as hostility toward immigrants escalates across the country.”