The Richmond City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved the first draft of an amendment to a proposed sanctuary ordinance that would establish immigration enforcement-free zones on city-owned property.
After a second reading of the ordinance on April 21, it would go into effect on May 21, according to acting City Attorney Shannon Moore.
The city already limits the use of city personnel and resources for ICE operations under an ordinance that was passed in March 2025, but officials have pushed for stronger language that would help close perceived gaps in what the city could do to thwart a federal immigration enforcement operation.
The new proposed ordinance now includes an explicit ban against the use of city property as staging areas or processing locations during federal immigration enforcements, according to the agenda report.
The ordinance also bars city employees from giving immigration agents access to non-public areas of city buildings, such as offices, storage spaces and workshops, and prohibits the city from providing resources such as personnel, funding, equipment, communications systems, office space or parking access for immigration enforcement purposes.
City also to establish system to alert residents if local ICE activity is verified
The new ordinance also requires the Richmond city manager to develop a communications plan, with public input, for alerting residents when verified immigration enforcement activity occurs. It would also mandate that the city manager report annually on May 1 about implementation of the ordinance.
According to Gabino Arredondo, lead project manager, the city is still developing the communications protocol and hosting community engagement meetings to develop that plan and will provide more details on April 21.
Council member Claudia Jimenez asked Richmond police Chief Timothy Simmons how the department will enforce the new ordinance.
“From a very practical standpoint, if there were federal officers staging at any of our locations, for example, we would tell them to leave,” Simmons said. “Pretty plain and simple.”
When Zepeda asked Simmons how the department would engage with federal agents if they, for example, were blocking a public roadway, Simmons clarified that officers would document the activity but not engage in a conflict with agents.
“We would document it in a police report and probably try routing it through the city attorney’s office or things of that nature,” Simmons said. “What we are not going to do is get in a confrontation with another law enforcement agency that is operating in some sort of legal capacity. We would document it but that is also how we would handle it with a resident as well.”
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.
Jimenez said earlier this year 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 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. The Flock system is now back on until the contract is reevaluated at the end of this year.
According to the city’s March 17 presentation regarding how the $1 million for immigrant legal resources has gone since the city chose three organizations to administer the funds in October 2025, the city has funded three nonprofit organizations — Catholic Charities East Bay, East Bay Sanctuary Covenant and the Multicultural Institute — to provide free or low-cost legal help and community education to Richmond’s immigrant residents. As of late January, the organizations had collectively handled more than 125 legal cases and consultations, including immigration defense, visa applications and work permits.
