Sacramento considers banning ICE operations on city-owned property

The City of Sacramento is considering joining a growing list of California cities and counties creating rules to ban U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations on city property.

Jim Gonzalez is the chairman of the Sacramento Latino Economic Council and a supporter of the plan to deny access to ICE agents staging in places like public parks and city garages.

"The city has the right to control its property and what happens in those properties, and that's what it's doing," Sanchez said. "Basically saying they're not to be used as stages for raids.

Protesters outside the Downtown Sacramento federal building have been calling for new protections against ICE operations.

"I think that preeminent in a lot of people's minds is what's happening in Minneapolis and Minnesota," Sanchez said.

Sacramento's existing sanctuary city ordinance already bans the use of city resources to help enforce federal civil immigration law.

In the aftermath of Minneapolis ICE raids, several California cities and counties have recently passed ICE bans on public property, including San Jose, Berkeley, Santa Clara County, Alameda County and Los Angeles County.

Republican Strategist Tab Berg said he believes the proposed public property ban and sanctuary laws prevent orderly arrests of alleged criminals and end up hurting immigrant communities.

"It's a senseless performance, to be honest," Berg said. "Politicians have to quit puffing up their chest and acting and following the dictates of the smallest minorities of their base."

This proposal will go before the city's law and legislation committee for a vote next week. The language is borrowed from Chicago's executive order, which also banned ICE from city-owned property there back in October.

"The obligation of any city official is to protect people's rights, their civil rights," Gonzalez said.