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Huntington Beach City Council members unanimously agreed to ignore California’s sanctuary state law on Tuesday night, ordering police officers to work with federal immigration authorities and notify federal officials when they are about to release an undocumented immigrant from jail.
It comes as Surf City launched a lawsuit against the state claiming the current rules are unconstitutional.
[Read: Huntington Beach Sues California Over Sanctuary Laws]
Their battle is playing out as President Donald Trump steps back into the Oval Office, with interim leaders of the federal Department of Justice sending out a memo calling for investigations of state and local officials who oppose immigration enforcement, according to the Associated Press.
“We are going to provide the best safety for our citizens, plain and simple,” said Mayor Pat Burns, who had a bust of Trump next to him on the dais during Tuesday’s meeting. “It’s going to be what’s best for Huntington Beach. Huntington Beach first.”
Burns’ proposal specifically directs the city’s police department to work with “federal law enforcement agencies and honoring ICE [Immigrations and Customs Enforcement] detainers,” claiming it’s the only way to prevent human trafficking and oppose gang activity from illegal immigrants.
The detainer directs law enforcement agencies to notify federal immigration officials when an undocumented immigrant is about to be released from jail, including placing an additional 48-hour hold on the person, according to the ICE website.
“The City of Huntington Beach, its Police Department, other Departments and its City officials shall employ and deploy every means and resource necessary to combat crime and protect the citizens of Huntington Beach, including coordinating and communicating with federal law enforcement agencies and honoring ICE detainers,” the city’s resolution states.
It also directs City Attorney Michael Gates to “take any legal action necessary” to protect the city from any crackdown from the state.
Newly elected Councilman Butch Twining highlighted several women across the country who’d been assaulted by immigrants, saying the city needed to be “proactive” in ensuring similar crimes didn’t come to their shores.
“Each one of them got raped and killed by illegal aliens,” Twining said at Tuesday’s meeting. “We are not being allowed to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Santa Ana Goes Another Direction
On the same night, two officials in Santa Ana signaled they’re heading in a different direction and pledged to protect immigrants.
Santa Ana City Councilmembers Jessie Lopez said the immigrant and refugee communities are under attack and encouraged residents to learn their rights.
“This attack on our community is wrong for so many reasons,” she said during Tuesday’s meeting. “Refugees and immigrants bring valuable contributions to our economy. They enrich our culture and embody the values of resilience and hope.”
Lopez said she would advocate for initiatives to protect immigrants in Santa Ana and called the federal immigration situation “dark times” and an attack by the new presidential administration.
Santa Ana officials designated the town a sanctuary city in late 2016, shortly after Trump was elected to his first term.
[Read: It’s Official, Santa Ana Is Orange County’s First Sanctuary City]
Santa Ana City Councilman Ben Vazquez echoed Lopez’s remarks.
“In these challenging times, as the federal government enacts stringent immigration policies our commitment to our undocumented community remains unwavering,” he said.
Increased Crime?
Huntington Beach Mayor Burns’ item did not include any mention of crime statistics in the city, and no crimes in Surf City were mentioned by other city council members.
According to data from Huntington Beach collected by the California Department of Justice, violent crime in the city fell by 16% from 2022 to 2023, the latest year for which data is available, along with an 11% drop in property crime that year.
Overall, violent crime is up 7% from 2014, and property crime is down 8%.
In the 2024-25 budget, the Huntington Beach Police Department noted they investigated 109 “human trafficking and internet/sex crimes cases” for the year, but did not note how many of those moved to prosecution.
The year before, they investigated 135 of those cases.
The budget also noted that police investigated 133 “narcotic related citizen complaints” and disposed of 845 pounds of narcotics over the year.
City Attorney Gates pointed to reports that one of the wildfires in LA was started by an undocumented immigrant, and that LA’s sanctuary city laws meant that he would not be deported.
“They are not coordinating with the federal government because of the sanctuary state law,” Gates said. “This is on our doorstep.”
Newly elected Councilman Don Kennedy highlighted how he ran for office on public safety, and that the goal was to bring the greatest level of safety to American citizens.
“Governments’ top priority is public safety,” Kennedy said. “To deny cooperation is incorrect.”
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