Amid a nationwide controversy with the Trump administration’s actions on immigration and deportation, Coronado City Council kept its longstanding legislative policy on the city’s relationship with federal law enforcement agencies, but did reiterate its support for local, state and federal law enforcement.
In a meeting Jan. 20 about legislative policy guidelines, the most contentious issue concerned the Police Department’s cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, more widely known as ICE.
Council member Mark Fleming wanted to support legislation requiring local police to fully cooperate with federal officers and agents.
I feel that … locally, we should not be restricting legal federal law enforcement activity. In my mind, this should not be anything that is debatable.
Council member Mark Fleming
“I feel that … locally, we should not be restricting legal federal law enforcement activity,” Fleming said. “In my mind, this should not be anything that is debatable.”
Coronado resident Carolyn Rogerson expressed her agreement with Fleming during the meeting.
“It is incumbent upon all of us to explain to our children that you respect the laws, you respect the local police, you respect the federal police,” Rogerson said.
However, some council members and residents of the island countered that Coronado should not get involved in such political matters, and that it could potentially divide the city to adopt a policy regarding the ICE operations.
“I do not see that we need to add this, in any way, shape or form,” Council member Amy Steward said. “This may end up putting undue burden on our law enforcement … We are nonpartisan, this is what we do. I don’t want to polarize our community.”
Coronado resident Steven Phillips also objected to Fleming’s proposal. “We know what the laws are, the folks know what the laws are, and those laws are standing,” he said. “I think it’s above our paygrade to be doing something like that.”
Historically, Coronado has cooperated with federal agencies anyway, Council member Carrie Anne Downey told The Coronado News. She noted that municipal police have helped federal agents when boats came ashore carrying undocumented immigrants.
“In the past, we’ve had people who were being smuggled, and they would all disband somewhere around Coronado. Border Patrol asked us to find those people,” Downey explained.
However, in 2018, the California Values Act, or Senate Bill 54 (SB54), set limits on state and local law enforcement participation in ICE activity, which the Coronado Police Department follows, according to Lea Corbin, the Police Department’s public affairs officer.
Under SB54, police are restricted in what information, assistance and cooperation they can give to ICE. The law protects victims and witnesses of hate crimes from being detained or reported to immigration authorities solely because of immigration status, which helps people report hate crimes without fear of deportation.
In addition, it prohibits California police departments from using their resources “to investigate, interrogate, detain, detect or arrest persons for immigration enforcement purposes.”
During the Jan. 20 meeting, Council member Kelly Purvis said she would advocate wording that outlines the city’s support of local, state and federal police, but she wouldn’t go any further than that because it would only “cause a lot of problems in our community that we don’t have, because we all understand that the laws are important, and we abide by them, and we’re supportive of our law enforcement officers.”
Downey explained to The Coronado News that the city’s guidelines have always supported federal law enforcement, but she said that the council decided if Fleming was concerned about not having wording in there that supported federal agencies, they would reiterate the city’s policy.
Other council members expressed their advocacy for Coronado’s Police Department and following federal law, but wanted to stay away from explicitly stating any guidelines between municipality agents and government activity, and all approved the changes.
In the end, Council agreed to adopt a legislative policy that says: “Support local, state and federal law enforcement.”
