For several weeks, Southern California has been gripped by raids from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, California Border Patrol, and other unidentified militants. Not only have undocumented immigrants been taken for deportation, but also naturalized citizens and those born in the U.S.
Many Southern Californians have responded in the streets and in council chambers. These movements are continuing in the San Gabriel Valley, in the wake of the legislature’s narrow passage of the “Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which earmarks $170 billion for ICE operations and border wall construction.
On Tuesday, July 1, a small group of locals came to speak at Covina’s City Council meeting, after video and photos surfaced on social media of masked men operating in the parking lots of the city’s Home Depot and Walmart.
Resident Camila Rosero pleaded with the city to take action against masked operatives, and in support of affected residents. This sentiment was echoed by six of eight public commenters that evening.
“I'm here to urge this council to adopt a local policy that limits cooperation with ICE and protects the rights of every resident, following the examples of cities like Pasadena,” Rosero said.
She continued, “Pasadena recently reaffirmed that federal immigration enforcement is not the responsibility of local government. They've taken steps to ensure local police don't ask about immigration status and that they won't use city resources to assist in ICE raids.”
Rosero also mentioned the Crown City’s resolution to create an “immigrant defense assistance fund,” a move taken by the city of Santa Ana too.
“I'm also asking you to include protections against the use of masked, unidentified ICE agents operating in our city,” she added. “That kind of transparency is the minimum standard in a democratic society.”
Specifically, speakers implored the council to support a pair of California State Senate Bills: SB 627, the “No Secret Police Act,” and SB 805, the “No Vigilantes Act.” SB 627 would require law enforcement to be unmasked and to display identification, except in undercover operations. SB 805 is meant to expand police impersonation laws.
“Over the past few weeks, we've experienced the collective terror of community members being snatched off the streets by men in masks. No badges, no names, no insignia,” said educator and former West Covina City Councilmember Brian Calderon-Tabatabai.
“My students live in fear. Some won't sleep at night. Others won't let their parents leave for work. [These are] kids, children trying to protect their families from government sanctioned abduction. This is the reality. Fear in the classroom, empty chairs at the dinner table, and too much silence from those in power.”
Shopkeeper Brian Amalfitano compared current affairs to what his parents saw in Argentina’s “Dirty War,” before immigrating to the U.S., describing the kidnappings carried out by Dictator Jorge Rafael Videla’s forces in the late 1970’s.
“They used to go around in green Ford Falcons picking up communists, hippies, people with long hair, and disappearing them. There were between 22,000 and 34,000 people that disappeared. These Ford Falcons would stop in the middle of the street and pick up whoever they wanted, disappear them, kill them, ship them off to wherever they wanted. This is what's happening now here, people are getting picked up off the street without due process from people that can label you anything they want,” Amalfitano said.
Amalfitano closed by imploring council members to stand up for the city and its residents, regardless of their personal politics.
During the meeting, the council largely deferred to Covina Police Chief Ric Walczak to address the speakers’ concerns. The Chief spoke at some length, detailing his department’s legal separation from ICE.
“At this point right now, some people in the community are questioning the fact that I'm sitting here in a uniform, whether they can trust me as a member of law enforcement, because that distinction between policing and ICE is sometimes hard to navigate,” the Chief began.
“So a couple things about our stance. One is, there are several state laws – enacted over a great deal of time – that already regulate our relationship with immigration enforcement. This is not a new issue. I know it's come to the forefront recently, but the Trust Act, SB 54 all regulate how local law enforcement deals with ICE, and mostly what it says is that we're not supposed to deal with ICE,” Walczak continued.
“We put out a statement that immigration enforcement is not our job. Covina police officers will not ask you about your immigration status or ask to see any citizenship documents when they encounter you in the field.
“Covina PD, uniform patrol, we're proud to work for Covina PD, you'll see us with Covina patches and our names on our uniforms, just like I'm dressed tonight, occasionally, you'll see detectives out in the field, and if you ask them for their name and their badge will usually be on their belt. So we're easily identified by policy.
“We do follow state law, and we report on our interactions with ICE every year, as mandated by state law. So last year, usually in about March, we filled out a report that said, ‘How many times did we interact with ICE last year?’ And the answer for last year was zero. That lack of cooperation, or I should say, lack of us working together is, I think, what many people want.
“The difficulty with that is because we're not communicating or cooperating with ICE, they're also not communicating with us. ICE has not asked for our cooperation on any enforcement actions in Covina. In fact, we usually learn about when ICE is in Covina on Instagram, because somebody has posted, ‘Hey, ICE was here. They were at Home Depot. They were at Walmart.’ They're not calling us and we're not participating in any other activities,” Walczak said.
Mayor Victor Linares ended the discussion on the raids.
“I really do appreciate all of you that have come and spoken on this tonight. Brian, I appreciate the stories that you shared, the information you guys are giving us,” Linares started.
“I think speaking with my fellow council members, there are some things that we want to talk about and try to do to make everybody feel safe. I think, as a community, we've come out, and we've been very clear that we are not supportive of what has been happening, and we are definitely not assisting with anything ICE related,” the Mayor went on.
“If anything, we've been supportive of our community wanting to protest. Friendly protests have taken place in Covina, and we do appreciate that,” Linares said, adding that the city paid for police overtime to monitor the safety of a demonstration.
In a July 7 statement to SBLA, Covina City Manager Chris Marcarello said city staff is currently preparing a presentation on local community non-profits for the council to consider partnering with to provide assistance to impacted families (such as with grocery or utility bills). This could happen by July 15, potentially. Marcarello also said that staff are reviewing SB 627 and SB 805, with nothing agendized as of yet regarding either bill.
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