Sacramento’s City Council updated its Immigration Platform, something it hadn’t done since 2017. But some say it doesn’t go far enough in protecting immigrants.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento City Council is updating its immigration platform for the first time since 2017 after hours of public comment from residents and advocacy groups calling for stronger protections for immigrants.
The platform, adopted in 2017, outlines the city’s values around embracing and protecting immigrant and refugee communities. Councilmembers said the update is intended, in part, to bring the document into compliance with state laws passed since then – and to reaffirm Sacramento’s commitment to being a sanctuary city.
The meeting stretched from Tuesday afternoon into the evening, as more than 100 people signed up to speak in person, with hundreds more submitting comments online ahead of time.
Mayor Pro Tem Eric Guerra said the update is meant to send a message of support to immigrant communities across the city.
“This is important because we want our communities to know that the city of Sacramento stands behind them,” Guerra said. “Our city was built by immigrants, refugees and asylees.”
But many speakers during public comment said revising the platform does not go far enough.
Frances Lu, an organizer with Decarcerate Sacramento, said the update amounts to “largely symbolic language and is not actual policy and there’s no actions attached to it, so what we’re advocating for today is for them to actually update the city’s sanctuary policy and develop an action plan.”
Lu said community groups have been urging the City Council since November to take concrete steps to strengthen protections for immigrants.
Moiz Mir of the Asian American Liberation Network said about 25 organizations reiterated those demands in a letter sent to councilmembers Monday.
“The whole point of the letter is that existing policy is not being upheld and that we need further and deeper policies,” Mir said. “And so we’re hoping to see genuine policy change and, in particularly, the full non-cooperation of the city of Sacramento with federal immigration enforcement.”
Councilmember Mai Vang said she is taking that to heart.
“I’m working with community and colleagues to actually develop a Sacramento community safety action plan, because what I also have learned is that good policy goes to die in implementation if you actually don’t have process and protocols in place,” she said.
Vang, Guerra and Vice Mayor Karina Talamantes are also working on a separate resolution that would bar federal immigration agents from conducting enforcement actions on city-owned property, including parking garages and community centers.
“It’s the ban of federal immigration officers being able to use any city facility for staging or for any use,” Talamantes said, adding that she wants immigrant communities to feel safe accessing city resources.
Councilmembers said they are closely watching immigration enforcement activity elsewhere in the country – including Minneapolis – as they consider next steps.
Talamantes said the city cannot control federal actions but can prepare its own response through better coordination and communication. Vang said events in Minnesota and other parts of the country show Sacramento is not immune to similar situations.
As of Tuesday night, the only action from the council was the update to the immigration platform. The separate resolution involving city property would first need to go before the Law and Legislation Committee before returning to the full council at a later date.