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‘I imagine that the council will be voting on sanctuary cities hopefully very, very soon,’ Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said on Monday that her city doesn’t have a law officially designating it as a “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants and that this should be changed quickly before President-elect Donald Trump assumes office.
Trump has vowed to carry out mass deportations of illegal immigrants and said he would push Congress to adopt legislation outlawing sanctuary cities, which enact policies that shield illegal immigrants from federal immigration authorities.
“I imagine that the council will be voting on sanctuary cities hopefully very, very soon,” she told the outlet. “We will stand with the immigrant community and whatever policy they put forward, we will make sure that people in Los Angeles are not hurt and families are not separated.”
The City Council approved a motion in July 2023 calling on various city departments to take steps for Los Angeles to formally become a sanctuary city, which would prohibit city cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Later, in September 2024, several City Council members introduced a motion for a new sanctuary city law to legally codify Los Angeles’ status as a sanctuary city. The law has not yet returned to the council for a vote.
In addition to advocating for the City Council to finalize and enact the law before Trump assumes office, Bass also expressed doubt that the president-elect’s pledge to deport millions of illegal immigrants could be implemented.
Trump, who won the race for the White House vowing a vast crackdown on illegal immigration, said last week that his incoming administration has “no choice” but to press ahead with the deportations, regardless of the cost.
“When people have [been] killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries,“ Trump continued. ”And now they’re going to go back to those countries because they’re not staying here. There is no price tag.”
In the meantime, Homan urged other illegal immigrants to self-deport, saying it’s just a matter of time before they’re caught and removed from the country.
Trump has also vowed to use federal power against sanctuary cities. During a campaign speech in North Carolina at the end of September, Trump said he would push Congress to pass a law banning sanctuary cities nationwide.
In 2017, Trump signed an executive order that called on federal agencies to withhold funds from sanctuary jurisdictions. The order made federal money to state and local governments conditional upon their giving immigration officials access to their jails and advance notice when illegal immigrants were being released from custody.
Shortly after taking office, President Joe Biden rescinded Trump’s executive order.