
City Councilmember Jessie Lopez wants her colleagues to bring back Santa Ana’s Sanctuary Policy Advisory Group, a committee responsible for reviewing the city’s sanctuary policies and possibly strengthening the protections of people living in the city who are undocumented.
Her request comes amid a slew of new edicts from the Trump administration stepping up federal immigration enforcement, sparking fear in Orange County’s immigrant communities.
President Donald Trump promised in his campaigning to carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history.” And in his first week in office, President Trump signed several executive orders on immigration to carry out that promise. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have already begun some operations around the country.
In 2016, Santa Ana became the first city in Orange County to declare itself a sanctuary city. The policy prohibits using city resources for immigration enforcement, protects sensitive information, and solidifies the city’s commitment to protecting all residents regardless of status.
With the city’s official sanctuary ordinance in 2017, the Sanctuary Policy Advisory Group was created to advise city leaders on issues related to protecting immigrant residents and sanctuary city policies. The group also provided recommendations on the use and oversight of the city’s Deportation Defense Fund, money used to provide legal defense to residents facing deportation.
The advisory group hasn’t met since 2020, according to Lopez’s agenda item report. Lopez said the group is “critical” in ensuring Santa Ana remains a place “where immigrants are going to be treated with dignity and respect, not fear and persecution.”
Lopez is asking the City Council to consider immediately reconvening the group and directing city staff to provide a written update within 30 days and at least every month thereafter. The advisory group could also assess the city’s existing sanctuary policies and make recommendations for strengthening its protections.
Strengthening and reaffirming the city’s commitment to protecting its undocumented community is as important as ever, Lopez said.
“I, as a policy maker, refuse to stand by while our families, our children, are targeted. That’s why I’m bringing this back,” Lopez said. “I need to know from the attorneys who do this work, day in and day out, from the organizations that do deportation defense, from our families that are forced to go through the system: What is happening in real-time in our city? What can the city do to provide further protections?”
The president has said he wants to challenge sanctuary policies and last week instructed federal officials to look for ways to limit the access of jurisdictions with such policies to federal funds, saying in his executive order that “enforcing our nation’s immigration laws is critically important to the national security and public safety of the United States.”
Lopez said the city’s sanctuary status is more than symbolic and it’s time for action.
“We are a sanctuary city, and we will fight back against any attempt to turn our community into a hunting ground for federal enforcement,” Lopez said. “A lot of these families, their biggest crime is existing in this country without any status, and that is not something that we should ignore.”
“I will not allow my city to criminalize, to detain, to deport or to traumatize our residents simply for existing,” she added.
The Santa Ana City Council meeting is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 4, in the City Council Chamber, 22 Civic Center Plaza. Meetings are also streamed at YouTube.com/@CityofSantaAnavideos.