Back in late-16‚ LA made a big-time move that changed how cities deal with immigration. The city council (with zero no-votes) passed a law that made LA a safe-zone for immigrants: city workers and money couldnt be used to help catch people without papers
Pro-immigrant folks showed up at city hall with their signs and energy; they wanted quick action. The crowd made noise in both English and Spanish showing how multi-cultural the city is
Paul Krekorian‚ a council-member spoke about the citys duty: “our immigrant community here in Los Angeles needs to know we get their fears.“ The law came right as president-elect was talking about mass-deportations (which got lots of people worried)
The numbers tell an interesting story: LA had 1‚3 million immigrants living there — thats one-third of everybody in the city. Shiu-Ming Cheer from the California Immigration Policy Center pointed out how folks were super-worried about whats coming next; but she also said “were organized“
At that time eleven states already had some kind of dont-help-the-feds rules for immigration stuff; LAʼs move was extra-special cause its the second-biggest city in US (after NYC) The federal team didnt say anything when asked what they think about all this