Richmond city property could be designated an ICE-free zone as soon as this spring, meaning federal agents won’t be allowed to use city property for immigration enforcement operations.
The city council, with District 1 council member Jamelia Brown abstaining, voted Tuesday night to direct staff to return with a draft ordinance within 45 days.
The “ICE-free zone” ordinance resolution, co-sponsored by Vice Mayor Doria Robinson and District 6 council member Claudia Jimenez, is the latest attempt by city officials to proactively address threats of heightened immigration enforcement in sanctuary cities like Richmond since President Trump’s inauguration last year.
The proposed ICE-free zone ordinance would ban city-owned or city-controlled property from being used for federal civil immigration enforcement; require signs on city facilities; and mandate immediate reporting of any attempted enforcement activity to city leadership. The proposal also directs staff to develop emergency preparedness strategies and establish communications protocols to rapidly notify the public if ICE activity occurs in Richmond.
City staff are expected to update the council on March 3 and then return 45 days after that for a first reading of the proposed ordinance.
Jimenez said at Tuesday’s meeting that stronger “policies and procedures” are necessary to protect the city’s immigrant community. While acknowledging that the city already has strong protections against immigration enforcement efforts, setting up ICE-free zones could take it a step further, in step with other Bay Area municipalities.
“Many other cities, like Pinole and counties like Santa Clara and Alameda, have been doing it (ICE-free zones) and it is kind of a long time coming for us to do it,” Jimenez said. “I am proud to be here to tell the community that the city of Richmond has been standing with the immigrant community, supporting them.”
The West Contra Costa Unified School District also has strengthened its stance against such enforcement actions. In July the district updated its policies, initiating a mandatory training to educate administrators on how to recognize valid immigration warrants. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers are not allowed to enter West Contra Costa schools, or access student records, without a valid warrant.
After about an hour of public comment from speakers including about two dozen members of Reimagine Richmond, the Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA) and Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), Brown — who has recently been at odds with decisions made by her RPA-affiliated colleagues — said she didn’t disagree with ICE-free zones but questioned the various components of direction for the ordinance included in the agenda report.
“I do fully support and understand the need to protect all communities, including protecting our immigrants. Yes, I agree with this item; however I feel like there is some grouping of the ordinance,” Brown said. “The agenda predefines more than 13 specific components across policy areas to be included in that draft.”
At that point, Brown asked acting city attorney Shannon Moore to clarify if the ordinance will contain all of those points.
Moore said that in March she plans to review current protocols along with city staff and the police department and will provide the council with a more “clear direction” about creating an ICE-free zone ordinance.
“I need to evaluate this more and make sure our office understands how this ICE-free zone will interact with our current sanctuary city policies,” Moore said.
Brown said she thinks some of the components need to be evaluated on their own merits.
“I want to ensure that I am not feeling the pressure of the national climate to vote on something that is going to be included into one ordinance without us discussing it,” she said.
For example, Brown said she is concerned that labeling city property as “ICE-free zones” would “unintentionally” contribute to fear and create false expectations of security.
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“I think that it is our duty to do whatever we can within the law to prepare and protect our residents.”
— Claudia Jimenez, Richmond City Council member
“I want to understand more on what we can legally do versus selling something to the community that is not even true,” Brown said, adding that she didn’t want to jump to conclusions because of “community pressures” around immigration enforcement concerns.
The city has, in the last year, strengthened its sanctuary city ordinance, allocated $1 million for immigrant legal resources and turned off its Flock automated license-plate reader system due to data breach concerns.
“It is something (immigration concerns) that I feel is really contained in our city,” Brown said.
Jimenez responded that the components Brown is concerned about are not part of the ICE-free zones ordinance but would serve as the city’s plan for how to respond to “untrained militias” coming to the community.
“We already have some protocols and this is how we do that to fill the holes,” Jimenez said. “It is not just that people are pushing us and that’s why we are doing this. No. This is real. This is happening in other cities. People are dying from armed militias.”
Jimenez added that Brown could vote how she feels but that the community has been calling for the council to “send a clear message.”
District 2 council member Cesar Zepeda said he would like the ordinance to require federal law enforcement agents to identify themselves if they’re in an ICE-free zone, in cases where, for example, the agents have a legal right (i.e. a search warrant) to violate the zone rule.
“They might be able to enter (the ICE-free zone) depending on the circumstances,” Zepeda said, adding he hoped the city could codify a “no mask” policy. “That way if they do enter we know who they are.”
Zepeda wants to follow Alameda County’s example and establish a response plan for cities in west Contra Costa County that also have ICE-free zone policies. So far, Pinole is the only other city in the region to do this.
Robinson said the ordinance writing and approval process will time.
She added she believes that we are living in unprecedented and “extreme” times.
“This is something that we need to rise to the occasion and we need to be prepared,” she said “I think that it is our duty to do whatever we can within the law to prepare and protect our residents.”
