Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
National City — in reversal — moves closer to sanctuary city
Opens services to all immigrants and restricts police
Rosenda Perez with oldest son (photo from Al Dia)
On Jun. 19, the National City Council voted unanimously to adopt a Compassionate City resolution in support of its immigrants. While no one opposed the designation, the special meeting was a re-hearing on the issue that follows a lawsuit.
In a city with nearly 25,000 immigrants and refugees — two out of every five residents — words matter, even if they can't stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
"Many families are living daily with fear," said National City resident Felicia Cantu at the meeting.
Terms matter to city officials, too. Even before the legal tussle, former mayor Nick Inzunza in 2006 had declared the city a "sanctuary city," meaning it limits cooperation with federal immigration enforcement efforts. But no vote was taken, and Councilmember Ron Morrison, the current mayor, argued that Inzunza couldn't just declare it all by himself. Flash forward to Feb. 2017, and it was Morrison, acting alone.
Alliance San Diego had asked the city to adopt a "welcoming community" resolution, as several other local cities have done. On Feb. 7, as the council prepared to vote on a welcoming resolution, Mayor Morrison quietly substituted it for a weaker version the council then passed, 3-2.
San Diegans for Open Government and Chris Shilling filed a lawsuit against the city, citing the lack of staff or public input.
From that sprung a council vote on Jun. 6 to hold the special meeting on Jun. 19 — to re-hear the original "welcoming" resolution and Morrison's substituted version. The council was asked to consider sanctuary city designation and support for Senate Bill 54, which bars state and local resources being used for federal deportation efforts. Critics of the bill, including some San Diego politicians, see it as a threat to public safety, saying it could block efforts to catch violent offenders.
The council agreed to support SB 54, which is folded into the adopted resolution. Unlike Morrison's version, the final resolution states that city services are accessible to all residents, regardless of immigration status.
And it restricts local police from enforcing federal civil immigration law, or using city funds and resources to investigate or apprehend people who may have only violated civil immigration laws. But a resolution is not law.
With one National City family recently parted by border agents, residents might find more comfort in the state bill, as some speakers at the meeting suggested. (Rosenda Perez, the mother, has been released after posting bail; her husband, Francisco Duarte, is still in custody — neither were charged with crimes or had a criminal record).
Paula Hall, Sweetwater Union High School district board vice president, said the strong language will help students, and that a large number of them are affected. But she suggested adding language from a 2011 Homeland Security memo "that clearly states that certain areas are considered safe areas," she said — schools being one of them.
The council left that language out since SB 54 is part of the resolution. While 54 has yet to pass, on the day of the meeting, the bill was amended to strengthen the anti-deportation language.
"Don't leave here thinking people have extra protection," the mayor said. "They do not. We still can't control ICE."
Here's something you might be interested in.
National City — in reversal — moves closer to sanctuary city
Opens services to all immigrants and restricts police
National City — in reversal — moves closer to sanctuary city
Opens services to all immigrants and restricts police
Rosenda Perez with oldest son (photo from Al Dia)
On Jun. 19, the National City Council voted unanimously to adopt a Compassionate City resolution in support of its immigrants. While no one opposed the designation, the special meeting was a re-hearing on the issue that follows a lawsuit.
In a city with nearly 25,000 immigrants and refugees — two out of every five residents — words matter, even if they can't stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
"Many families are living daily with fear," said National City resident Felicia Cantu at the meeting.
Terms matter to city officials, too. Even before the legal tussle, former mayor Nick Inzunza in 2006 had declared the city a "sanctuary city," meaning it limits cooperation with federal immigration enforcement efforts. But no vote was taken, and Councilmember Ron Morrison, the current mayor, argued that Inzunza couldn't just declare it all by himself. Flash forward to Feb. 2017, and it was Morrison, acting alone.
Alliance San Diego had asked the city to adopt a "welcoming community" resolution, as several other local cities have done. On Feb. 7, as the council prepared to vote on a welcoming resolution, Mayor Morrison quietly substituted it for a weaker version the council then passed, 3-2.
San Diegans for Open Government and Chris Shilling filed a lawsuit against the city, citing the lack of staff or public input.
From that sprung a council vote on Jun. 6 to hold the special meeting on Jun. 19 — to re-hear the original "welcoming" resolution and Morrison's substituted version. The council was asked to consider sanctuary city designation and support for Senate Bill 54, which bars state and local resources being used for federal deportation efforts. Critics of the bill, including some San Diego politicians, see it as a threat to public safety, saying it could block efforts to catch violent offenders.
The council agreed to support SB 54, which is folded into the adopted resolution. Unlike Morrison's version, the final resolution states that city services are accessible to all residents, regardless of immigration status.
And it restricts local police from enforcing federal civil immigration law, or using city funds and resources to investigate or apprehend people who may have only violated civil immigration laws. But a resolution is not law.
With one National City family recently parted by border agents, residents might find more comfort in the state bill, as some speakers at the meeting suggested. (Rosenda Perez, the mother, has been released after posting bail; her husband, Francisco Duarte, is still in custody — neither were charged with crimes or had a criminal record).
Paula Hall, Sweetwater Union High School district board vice president, said the strong language will help students, and that a large number of them are affected. But she suggested adding language from a 2011 Homeland Security memo "that clearly states that certain areas are considered safe areas," she said — schools being one of them.
The council left that language out since SB 54 is part of the resolution. While 54 has yet to pass, on the day of the meeting, the bill was amended to strengthen the anti-deportation language.
"Don't leave here thinking people have extra protection," the mayor said. "They do not. We still can't control ICE."
Comments