Mayor puts protest reimbursement on hold

Less than a week after asking a church to reimburse the city nearly $40,000 for the cost of law enforcement to monitor an immigration protest, Mayor Paul Miller met with church officials Monday afternoon and pledged to put the bill on hold.

In a statement by Miller and June Goudey, pastor of United Church of Christ, the two affirmed that the problem with the church’s offering of sanctuary to an Oxnard mother who fears being deported “results from the lack of a firm, consistent federal policy on immigration. . .”

The statement said both sides would continue to seek a satisfactory solution. Until then, the city will not push the church to pay $39,307 it said was spent on police, transit and support services in connection with the Sept. 16 protest at the church.