Anaheim council rejects resolution calling for an end to deportations
Four of five Anaheim City Council members on Tuesday declined to support a resolution calling for an end to deportations and the legal protection of undocumented immigrants without serious criminal histories.
“To ask a president to ignore a law, to ignore an oath that he took, I don’t think it’s good for a mayor to do that,” Mayor Tom Tait said.
The resolution proposed by Councilman Jordan Brandman was similar to one adopted in December by the Los Angeles City Council and echoed a letter sent that same month to President Obama by 29 House Democrats.
After Tait, Mayor Pro Tem Kris Murray and council members Gail Eastman and Lucille Kring said they could not support calling for an end to deportations, the council instead voted to restate a resolution that it approved last year, supporting comprehensive immigration reform providing a path to “residency and/or citizenship for the nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States today.”
“The president has an obligation for the Constitution to uphold the nation’s laws and therefore our emphasis has been on really urging … asking for them to please engage and pass comprehensive immigration reform policy,” said Murray, who proposed restating the previous resolution.
Brandman’s resolution called on the city to write a letter asking Obama to expand the deferred action program to include all undocumented immigrants without serious criminal histories.
The program, which was announced by Obama in June 2012, has allowed hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants to stay in the country legally.
In response to a protester calling on him to end deportations, Obama said in November he does not have the power to do so.
Brandman said he decided to push the resolution after he was approached by local labor groups, including Teamsters Local 952, the SEIU and Justice for Janitors.
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Twitter: @PalomaEsquivel
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