`Law-Abiding Immigrants & Refugees’ Resolution
RIVERSIDE (CNS) – In a 4-1 vote, the Board of Supervisors approved a resolution Tuesday reinforcing Riverside County’s commitment to “safeguarding civil rights” for “law-abiding immigrants and refugees,” which was prompted by renewed federal immigration law enforcement operations.
“The county must protect everybody who’s been here for years and those folks who are moving here on a daily basis,” board Chairman Manuel Perez said ahead of Tuesday’s vote, which followed nearly two hours of public comments and discussion among the supervisors. “With this, we are making a statement. Our county is a compassionate, inclusionary county. The immigrant who is law-abiding is not the enemy.”
Perez and Supervisor Yxstian Gutierrez jointly proposed an action plan to establish a one-stop web portal with information on how undocumented immigrants can receive legal and other aid, as well as directing county staff to seek out possible funding mechanisms to help the undocumented community — prioritizing so-called “dreamers” — and draft the formal resolution declaring the county’s position on the status of non-citizens.
“This affirms Riverside County is a vibrant, compassionate and welcoming county for all law-abiding immigrants and refugees and commits (the county) to safeguarding the civil rights of all our residents to the fullest extent provided by the law,” according to the measure.
The resolution reiterates that county agencies will not undertake independent inquiries based “solely on a person’s actual or suspected immigration status, national origin, race or ethnicity.” However, it acknowledges there is no bar to departments’ “assistance or cooperation with federal authorities if required by state or federal laws.”
It re-emphasizes the county’s desire for “comprehensive, common sense” immigration reform, which has been stated in two prior resolutions over the last 12 years.
Supervisor Karen Spiegel cast the lone dissenting vote against the measure, telling her colleagues there are “unintended consequences when we take actions of this nature.”
“Are we really addressing an issue that’s going on?” she said. “Foreign nationals committing crimes — that’s where I become passionate. We have a right to be protected … against others doing things that are illegal. We’re trying to clamp down on the flow of fentanyl that’s killing our young adults. It’s coming across the border. We need a safe country. There is human trafficking, happening in our own backyards, and nobody in this room is engaging that.”
Spiegel appealed to her colleagues to stay “focused on issues that we have adjudication over,” comparing the resolution to merely “raising a flag.”
“We’re just saying words,” she said.
Luz Gallegos of the Perris-based Todec Legal Center thanked the board for taking a position, saying her organization is seeing first-hand “little kids crying, wanting to go to school, and parents not going to work because of immigration.”
“We have to think about the greater impact on our economy with our immigrant workforce,” she said.
Roy Bleckert of Moreno Valley said the board’s action wasn’t going to “protect kids from MS-13 gang members who have come here from other countries, going into Riverside County schools.”
“If you really wanted to have an inclusive, healing resolution, it would very simply say, `If you’re here legally, we got you,”‘ he said.
Gutierrez acknowledged that “anyone who comes here and commits a crime obviously shouldn’t be here.”
“All this resolution is doing is reaffirming state law and the contributions of the immigrant community,” the supervisor said.
Perez and Gutierrez said they were originally inspired to propose a plan to enhance community understanding of what undocumented immigrants are entitled to in California, particularly those residents who availed themselves of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which was initiated during the Obama administration.
Nearly 1 million DACA recipients, or “dreamers,” established residency until the program was halted by President Donald Trump during his 2017-21 term. It was brought back under the Biden administration but was tangled up in legal challenges. The program facilitated permanent residency for border crossers who were minors at the time. The supervisors moved beyond DACA in their measure, attempting to confront the recent swell in U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement apprehensions of migrants.
In his first week back in the White House, Trump declared a national emergency along the southern border with Mexico, ending the Biden administration’s “catch-and-release” program and re-instituting the “remain- in-Mexico” policy that prohibits automatic asylum for those seeking entry.
During the previous administration, Riverside County received a stream of border crossers, most of whom were dropped by Border Patrol agents in Blythe, Indio and Murrieta. One county Executive Office estimate put the figure at anywhere from 120 to 200 “drop-offs” per day.
U.S. Customs & Border Enforcement figures show that from 2022 to 2024, there were about 7 million “land border encounters” involving people entering the United States from Mexico. Figures released last year by the California Legislative Analyst’s Office indicated nearly 360,000 arrivals were awaiting immigration hearings statewide.
The board published a California Department of Justice fact sheet containing explanations for the California Values Act, Trust and Truth acts, which together prohibit local law enforcement agencies from directly participating in federal immigration enforcement actions, including not reporting foreign nationals’ presence in correctional facilities, barring a court order.
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