The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to create “ICE-free” zones, barring immigration officers from county-owned spaces amid increasing incidents of violence involving federal agents.
Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Hilda Solis announced the motion Tuesday to establish county-owned or operated property as “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-free zones,” which would prevent agents from staging, processing or operating in those areas.
“Los Angeles County will not allow its property to be used as a staging ground for violence caused by the Trump administration,” Horvath said at Tuesday’s meeting, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The motion directs county counsel to draft and return an ordinance for board consideration within 30 days.
Federal immigration officials flocked to the Los Angeles region in June as part of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown, targeting several downtown businesses in raids that sparked nationwide protests and the deployment of National Guard troops.
Agents have rounded up immigrants without legal status, but have also detained some U.S. citizens in their sweeps. In October, the LA County Board of Supervisors declared a state of emergency to provide rent relief for tenants who have fallen behind on rent payments as a result of the immigration crackdown.
On Tuesday, Horvath noted, “federal immigration enforcement has too often escalated into extreme violence.”
“Our federal government is freely, without cause, murdering its own citizens in broad daylight, in front of witnesses and cameras,” she said.
In response to the proposed measure, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to The Independent, “This is illegally illiterate. Enforcing federal immigration laws is a clear federal responsibility under Article I, Article II and the Supremacy Clause.”
“While Los Angeles sanctuary politicians continue to release pedophiles, rapists, gang members, and murderers onto the city's streets, our brave law enforcement will continue to risk their lives to arrest these heinous criminals and make Los Angeles safe again,” the DHS spokesperson said.
"How does this serve the people of Los Angeles? The biggest losers these politicians were elected to serve,” the spokesperson added.
Tuesday’s motion comes after multiple violent incidents involving immigration officials, not just in California, but across the nation, including last week’s fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minnesota.
Officials from the Trump administration have described the shooting as an act of self-defense and claimed that Good was engaged in “domestic terrorism.” State and local leaders in Minneapolis have rejected that narrative.
Meanwhile, on Friday in Southern California, a 21-year-old protester was left bloodied after a DHS agent fired a non-lethal round at close range at him during a protest. Video showed the agent dragging the protester by the neck, causing him to suffer a fractured skull and permanent vision loss in his left eye, according to the report.
Weeks earlier, on New Year’s Eve, an off-duty ICE agent fatally shot Keith Porter Jr. at an LA apartment complex after the officer suspected he was an “active shooter.” Porter’s family say he was firing an assault-style rifle into the air to celebrate the New Year.
Bay Area officials are also considering adopting “ICE-free” zones, according to L.A. Times report.
The first such zone ordinance was established by officials in Chicago in October, preventing ICE agents from operating on property owned or controlled by the city.
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