Council Votes 8 to 6 to Make L.A. Sanctuary for Refugees : Mayor’s OK Needed for City to Act

After a lengthy and emotional debate, a divided Los Angeles City Council today adopted a controversial resolution declaring the city “a sanctuary” for Central American refugees fleeing political persecution and violence in their homelands.

The resolution, adopted on a 8-to-6 vote, is largely symbolic. But, if the sanctuary statement is signed by Mayor Tom Bradley, it will instruct city officials not to voluntarily assist the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in finding and deporting illegal aliens from El Salvador and Guatemala. An estimated 300,000 immigrants from those two countries reside in Los Angeles. The resolution would also set a policy empowering city employees to ignore a person’s refugee status in providing public services.

The council also reaffirmed a Los Angeles Police Department policy that orders its officers not to arrest or detain undocumented immigrants merely for being here illegally and severely restricts the circumstances under which undocumented immigrants can be turned over to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Woo Sees Benefits

Councilman Michael Woo, who authored the resolution, said it would not only encourage refugees to report crime but also to report such substandard conditions as building code violations.

But Harold Ezell, the INS Western regional commissioner, noting that the volatile issue was being debated on Thanksgiving eve, called the resolution “a turkey.”

“I believe that it will affect our job as well as the resources of the city,” Ezell told the City Council members.

While several council members opposed the resolution because of fears that they were intruding on foreign policy, other members accused Ezell of politicizing the issue and “fanning the fires” of prejudice.

Impact Tremendous

The sanctuary resolution is similar to those passed in nearly a dozen other cities. But both supporters and opponents agreed that as the nation’s second-largest city with the largest population of Guatemalan and Salvadoran immigrants, the impact of the city’s resolution would be tremendous.

However, sanctuary proponents, including a number of rabbis, clergymen and actor Mike Farrell, spoke out in favor of sanctuary and disputed that it would result in a flood of new immigrants to Los Angeles.

Council members also received a letter from the Roman Catholic archbishop of El Salvador and Los Angeles Archbishop Roger Mahony urging them to recognize this as a “city of refuge” for Central American immigrants.

The tenor of the debate, before a packed City Hall, was emotional at times. But council members were also worried about the legal implications of the resolution, asking the city attorney whether it would violate any federal laws.

‘A Judgment Call’

Assistant. City Atty. George Buchanan was noncommittal. “I can’t speculate on that,” he said. “It’s a matter of interpretation, a judgment call.”

The resolution commended the Police Department for its policy of not booking illegal aliens except for “multiple misdemeanor offenses, high-grade misdemeanors or felonies.”

The resolution also placed the city on record opposing the deportation of “known law-abiding Central American refugees” and favoring the suspension of the deportation of Salvadoran and Guatemalan nationals who qualify as political refugees.