The Richmond City Council on Tuesday will consider a new ordinance that would significantly restrict the city from cooperating with federal immigration authorities, putting the city in the company of numerous other sanctuary cities statewide.
The proposed law would prohibit city personnel and resources from being used to assist with federal immigration enforcement efforts. The ordinance aims to maintain trust between Richmond’s diverse immigrant community and local government as it’s seen as essential for public safety.
“A relationship of trust between the City of Richmond’s immigrant community and the City of Richmond, its departments, programs, and personnel is central to the public safety of Richmond residents,” the proposed ordinance reads.
Strengthening protections has been discussed at recent demonstrations following President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
At the Jan. 28 city council meeting, the council asked City Attorney Dave Alshire’s office to look into ways the city could strengthen its ordinance.
Richmond’s original sanctuary ordinance, passed in 1990, limits police and city employees from working directly with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and instructs staff to forward any requests from that agency to the city manager or police chief for review, and to notify the city council.
The second ordinance, created in 2018 during Trump’s first term, prohibits the city from contracting with data companies that work with ICE.
District 6 city council member Claudia Jimenez told Richmondside Monday that she worked with Aleshire’s office to model Richmond’s proposed ordinance after San Francisco’s.
“We think that we need to respond and we knew that our sanctuary policy was on the weaker side,” Jimenez said. “We needed a stronger policy with more detail so we looked at Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.”
She said San Francisco’s success in defending its law against presidential executive orders targeting federal funding given to sanctuary cities was a deciding factor.
“The city attorney recommended that we go with what San Francisco’s sanctuary policy has because Trump sued the sanctuary policy there during his first term, and it was upheld,” Jimenez said. “That was key for us to have a precedent.”
Richmond’s ordinance not as detailed as SF’s
However, San Francisco’s sanctuary ordinance differs from Richmond’s proposed ordinance in several key aspects.
While both jurisdictions declare themselves to be places of refuge and prohibit using city resources for federal immigration enforcement, San Francisco’s policy contains specific exceptions written for individuals with violent felony convictions within the past seven years and serious felony convictions within five years.
San Francisco’s regulations also establish semiannual reporting requirements for the sheriff and juvenile probation department to document all communications with federal immigration authorities and includes provisions requiring city officials to consider factors such as a person’s community ties and rehabilitation before determining whether to respond to federal immigration requests — specifically exempting domestic violence cases from triggering cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Richmond’s proposed ordinance essentially incorporates state-level provisions by reference rather than explicitly listing specific crimes as being exempt. While the ordinance doesn’t detail specific crimes, California law does contain provisions where local law enforcement can cooperate with federal immigration authorities — situations that involve individuals convicted of serious or violent crimes.
Jimenez did not rule out the possibility of adding more provisions to the ordinance if needed but said that the one the council would be discussing on Tuesday night would be a good step toward creating “confidence” between the city, the police department and undocumented residents.
“This is also another thing that will show the community that we are strengthening our policy so you can feel relief if you have to report a crime,” she said. “It’s not going to bite you with repercussions when it comes with ICE. We have been working really hard to strengthen the relationships between the police department and the undocumented community and these things that happen at the federal level I feel like break that relationship.”
If approved by the council, the ordinance would amend the city’s municipal code, establishing specific limitations on how local law enforcement and other city officials can interact with federal immigration agents.
These restrictions would:
- Prohibit police from inquiring about a person’s immigration status;
- Prevent detention of individuals based solely on immigration hold requests;
- Restrict the sharing of information about a person’s release date from custody;
- Forbid city employees from providing immigration agents access to non-public areas of city property; and
- Protect confidentiality of data that could identify a person’s citizenship or immigration status.
The ordinance also aligns with California’s Senate Bill 54, the “California Values Act,” which established similar protections statewide. The Richmond measure cites both the California Constitution and SB 54 as legal authority for the restrictions.
Mayor Eduardo Martinez’s office did not respond to requests for comment on the proposed ordinance by publication time.
The proposal also includes exceptions that would allow cooperation with federal authorities when required by state or federal law, or when authorized by a judicial warrant. It also permits limited information sharing in accordance with specific sections of California state law.
If passed, the ordinance would take effect 30 days after adoption, according to Tuesday’s agenda.
