The city is working on a plan to give cash cards to people who are too afraid to go to work because of ICE operations.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has issued an executive directive reaffirming the city’s self-proclaimed sanctuary status in response to ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. She also promised to offer cash assistance to those affected by the federal enforcement actions targeting illegal immigrants.
“There is a need for me to have an executive directive to help our city understand how to protect itself from our federal government,” Bass said Friday at a press conference.
The directive requires all city departments to ensure compliance with Ordinance 188441, commonly known as the Sanctuary City Ordinance, which prohibits the use of city resources or personnel to support federal immigration enforcement.
Each department must submit plans within two weeks, outlining how they will prevent ICE activity on city property, and is expected to designate an “immigrant affairs liaison” to address that matter.
The directive further instructs the city to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking detailed information from ICE, including when and where arrests were made in Los Angeles, who were arrested and for what reasons, where detainees are being held, and how much the operations are costing taxpayers.
The city hall will also establish a working group to review and potentially revise the Los Angeles Police Department’s (LAPD) policies on responding to immigration enforcement.
The LAPD already has a long-standing policy prohibiting officers from asking about immigration status when they interview crime victims, witnesses, or suspects, or from making arrests based solely on someone’s immigration status.
At Friday’s press conference, Bass also announced a forthcoming plan to distribute cash aid to people impacted by ICE activity, including those she said are too afraid to go to work for fear of being detained.
“You have people who don’t want to leave their homes, who are not going to work, and they are in need of cash,” she said.
According to Bass, cash cards containing a “couple hundred” dollars will be given out “in about a week,” in a way similar to how the city offered pre-filled debit cards to low-income residents during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
The mayor emphasized that the money will not come from city coffers, but from “philanthropic partners,” and that the cards will be distributed by immigrant advocacy groups such as the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.
