San Clemente city officials voted down a consideration Tuesday night that would have joined the city into a lawsuit challenging California’s state sanctuary law.
Huntington Beach leaders are suing California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta, challenging this state law that designates California as a sanctuary state.
San Clemente officials discussed joining this legal effort against the state but voted down the consideration 4-1 during Tuesday night’s meeting. Mayor Steve Knoblock, who agendized the item, was the only council member to vote in support of joining the lawsuit.
Knoblock said the law prevents local law enforcement from cooperating with immigration in order to improve public safety.
Other council members disagreed.
“We don’t want to be Huntington Beach,” Councilmember Mark Enmeier said during the meeting.
“This is a case that has already been decided by the courts,” he said. “We have no reason to get involved with it.”
It comes after a host of Orange County cities previously joined a similar, but unsuccessful, lawsuit in 2018.
SB 54, also known as the California Values Act, prevents law enforcement agencies from working with immigration officials, specifically with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents through immigration detainers unless that person has been convicted of a violent felony.
San Clemente’s council discussion largely focused on the differences between the two cities: Huntington Beach is a charter city that operates its own police department, while San Clemente is a general law city that contracts law enforcement with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
Councilmember Rick Loeffler said these differences mean the result of Huntington Beach’s lawsuit will have no impact on their city.
“It will not affect San Clemente,” he said. “Let’s be practical.”
Councilmember Zhen Wu, who was elected in November, said he was elected to keep his “head down and work on local issues.”
“I don’t see a clear benefit,” Wu said. “I think this action would be divisive. It’s highly politically charged, and I don’t believe San Clemente needs this publicity.”
The item also comes after the city debated, and eventually voted down, a 2022 effort that could have deemed the city a “Sanctuary for Life.”
The effort — brought forward by Knoblock — would’ve prevented the permitting or zoning required for any facility that wanted to provide abortions in the city.
[Read: San Clemente City Council Backs Off Abortion Ban Following Public Backlash]
Officials also narrowly passed a resolution declaring San Clemente a “Second Amendment Freedom City” in 2021.
Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes released a statement in late January addressing immigration enforcement as a federal responsibility.
“The Orange County Sheriff’s Department does not enforce federal immigration law,” he stated. “It is not part of our primary mission, and we remain focused on violations of state and local laws.”
About 30 speakers showed up to Tuesday night’s meeting to discuss the issue, the majority urging the council not to join Huntington Beach’s lawsuit.
“This is a totally inappropriate use of city funds over such a highly partisan issue,” one speaker said. “You are here to serve us, the community, not to serve Donald Trump.”
During the same meeting, the council also discussed a concern about an increasing number of panga boats washing ashore. These vessels can be used to transport people into the country.
The council voted unanimously to add information to the city website that directs residents to call immigration enforcement or other emergency services if they see a panga boat on the beach.
“Now that the current administration is actually doing something about immigration, the invasion by land has slowed down to a trickle,” Knoblock said, “and now the invasion by sea is happening and the pangas are coming to shore.”
The council also directed staff to reach out to the border patrol to see if they’re interested in placing ocean-pointing cameras to monitor the shoreline and keep an eye out for panga boats that may be transporting illegal immigrants.
“The people hit the beach and scatter,” Knoblock said. “That’s becoming more and more frequent.”
Angelina Hicks is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.
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