Santa Cruz Battles For Sanctuary Status Amidst ICE Raid Fallout

By Samantha Alsina on February 27, 2017

After the city council meeting on February 14th, Santa Cruz Police Deputy Chief Dan Flippo started making his own investigation with phone calls. Many residents during the last city council meeting told stories of how many family members were detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with many children being left without supervision following the raid.

The February 13th raid was originally said to be the result of a year-long investigation into MS-13 gang activity; however, it soon came to light following the raid that other family members unrelated to the alleged crimes were detained based on their immigration status. Since Homeland Security will not release the names of those who were detained, it is difficult to ascertain how many were directly impacted by the raid.

Santa Cruz Police Shames ICE

 In a scathing press conference last Thursday, the Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel attacked ICE claiming they had lied about the immigration component of their raid and then claimed that the Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) would not have participated if they had known that family members of the suspected gang members would be impacted. Flippo later clarified that up to 10 individuals may have been detained or processed by Homeland Security.

“The community has an absolute right to be angry over this and the Santa Cruz Police Department stands with our community in demanding answers….We agreed to participate only after being assured by senior officials at Homeland Security that this operation did not have a immigration component to it.”

As a result, the SCPD has reached out to US Representative Jimmy Panetta and Senator Kamala Harris for further investigation into the Feb. 13 raid. Although both Vogel and Flippo remained certain that those arrested are violent or dangerous offenders, they apologized to the community and families that were negatively impacted by the raid.

In the same press conference, Dan Flippo gave a brief history of the investigation that led up to the Feb 13 raid and the prior briefings that consolidated SCPD’s belief that the raid’s purpose was to arrest those related to gang activity, not to target those with undocumented status. Flippo brief presentation outlined a transparent look into the working relationship between the Santa Cruz Police Department and Homeland Security. In response to the press conference, ICE claimed that the SCPD had full awareness that some may be detained based on the documentation status.

statue of immigrants

image via pixabay

Rebuilding Trust Now Top Priority

Like Vogel, Flippo continued to attack ICE. He criticized their ongoing misinformation and their refusal to cooperate with local enforcement on sharing information of those who were directly detained by the DHS. The “betrayal,” as many officials have deemed it, has resulted in a loss of trust with many community members.

 The Santa Cruz mayor Cynthia Chase expressed her full support of uncovering answers on the raid and for the rebuilding of trust with the community. Beside sharing her outrage of the raid, the Santa Cruz mayor called for more available resources for undocumented citizens and for building trusting partnerships within the city. She acknowledged the fears of the community but said little on the possibility of sanctuary status.

Community Fights For Sanctuary Ordinance

 Since the raid, the community has mobilized for a Santa Cruz Sanctuary Ordinance. Before the raid, the city council has offered a sanctuary resolution. However, the community claimed that a resolution fails to enforce accountability on the city and lacks transparency in how local enforcement would handle federal agents. A symbolic resolution, in other words, is arguably ineffective in protecting the undocumented community.

The next city council meeting will be focused on debating whether to make the Sanctuary Resolution into an Ordinance and how the language of such a document will be constructed.

Those supportive of the sanctuary ordinance will be present at the city council with a number of demands they hope the city council will take into account. Some of these demands include that SCPD ceases all cooperation with DHS, that all local DHS/ICE activities be immediately notified to City Council, and a call for further transparency with the community of all local DHS/ICE activities in the area.

For those who would like to express their support for a sanctuary ordinance, the next city council meeting will take place tomorrow February 28th (7 p.m.) at City Hall, 809 Center Street, 95060.

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