Chula Vista Joins Cities Enhancing Protections for Immigrants

Chula Vista on Tuesday became the first city located wholly within border-adjacent South San Diego County to adopt enhanced protections for immigrants amid what leaders said was widespread anxiety in the community about stepped-up federal immigration enforcement. 

The City Council voted 4-1 to adopt a slate of immigration-related polices that includes educating immigrants about their rights, barring federal authorities from entering certain public areas without a warrant and preventing city contractors from disclosing employees’ immigration status “in cooperation with discriminatory enforcement actions.” 

“Residents deserve to know that their city stands behind constitutional protections and treats every resident with dignity,” said City Councilmember Cesar Fernandez, who spearheaded the new policy. “We have an opportunity to reaffirm who we are as a city.” 

The Chula Vista measure mirrors similar policies approved recently in Oceanside and the city of San Diego. 

Tuesday’s vote in Chula Vista contrasted markedly with a coinciding vote in the city of Vista, where more than 500 people packed City Council chambers Tuesday evening to debate a measure almost identical to Chula Vista’s. 

Debate over the Vista measure was protracted and bitter. After hearing from more than 100 public speakers, a divided City Council voted 3-2 to adopt the city’s new immigration policy. 

In Chula Vista, by contrast, the Council chamber was mostly empty and only two speakers raised objections before the measure sailed through following minimal discussion, with Mayor John McCann abstaining because, he said, his service as a Navy reservist rendered him “unable to oppose, or potentially oppose, federal law.” 

Chula Vista councilmembers said they were moved to act by what they characterized as city residents’ rising fear of overly aggressive federal immigration enforcement actions. 

“The new way law enforcement is done encourages us to take these positions,” said Councilmember Jose Preciado, citing immigrants detained at routine immigration hearings and deported without due process. “There was a promise to address people with criminal records. That isn’t happening.” 

Councilmembers praised police Chief Roxana Kennedy for being among the first in San Diego County to reassure residents following the election of President Donald Trump that Chula Vista officers would not check residents’ immigration status when responding to police calls. 

“I am so proud to be committed to supporting her agency and seeing her follow through with everything happening here, including affirming and ensuring that the public believes that we as a city are here to serve them,” Preciado said. 

Nearly a third of Chula Vista residents are foreign-born, according to the U.S. Census. The city has one of the highest concentrations of immigrants in San Diego County. 

“That gentleman who pours the extra scoop of guacamole on the carne asada fries you love so much, he’s probably undocumented,” said Councilmember Michael Inzunza on Tuesday. The city’s new immigration policy, he said, “demonstrates to the residents of our community that we are protecting them.” 

The relative absence of public speakers supporting or opposing Chula Vista’s measure was striking for such a hot-button issue. Only two speakers addressed the measure, one of them a serial critic of the Council who seldom voices support for city initiatives. 

The other speaker, an education consultant who also serves on the city’s housing advisory board, called the new policy a “politically inflamed [gesture of] virtue signaling to the most I have ever seen.” 

“You’re giving false hope to people who are already vulnerable,” Bogdan Matuszynski, the consultant, said. 

The main changes residents are likely to notice following adoption of the new policy are signs posted at city buildings prohibiting unauthorized entry to staff-only areas and a soon-to-be unveiled city website and social media campaign informing non-citizen residents of their legal rights and linking them to service providers. 

Fernandez said he was surprised so few people attended Tuesday’s Council meeting to debate the immigration measure. 

“I honestly expected more turnout,” he said. “I hope what it means is people in Chula Vista support this kind of action.” 

“There’s a lack of understanding about what the city can actually do,” Fernandez said. “We have to clarify that…We don’t interfere in lawful federal actions. But we do everything we can to make sure they are in fact lawful.” 

The post Chula Vista Joins Cities Enhancing Protections for Immigrants appeared first on Voice of San Diego.