Salinas to sue Trump administration on funding cuts to sanctuary cities

UPDATE 3/7/17 10:51 p.m.: Dozens of protestors rallied outside Salinas City Hall Tuesday night, pushing council members to do more to protect undocumented immigrants.

Moments later, the council voted to take legal action against the Trump administration.

This announcement came two weeks after the council voted down a resolution to become a sanctuary city. But the city said this is a more aggressive measure to protect those undocumented immigrants, who haven’t broken any laws while living in the U.S.

“We are going to sue the federal government and sue President Trump against that executive order,” said city manager Chris Callihan. “We feel that the executive order, the withholding of federal funding and enforcement of immigration laws are unconstitutional acts.”

Trump’s executive order promised to take federal funding away from sanctuary cities.

“It’s a lot for the city of Salinas,” Callihan said. “For example, grants that we receive for our fire department, it would represent a loss of about 12 positions. That’s 40 percent of our fire department staffing.”

But some residents are confused about why the city is suing.

“First of all, they never declared it a (sanctuary) city,” Salinas resident Israel Villa said. “The government hasn’t threatened to take the $10 million, I don’t understand. What are you going to sue?”

Officials said even though Salinas isn’t a sanctuary city, it has been acting as one. The federal money it gets every year can still be on the chopping block, which makes others wonder why the city won’t just declare sanctuary status.

“They can show the residents here that they have their back by voting in the sanctuary city. They can do that, and it only goes hand in hand to basically sort of put their money where their mouth is,” Salinas resident Margaret Serna Bonetti said.

But not everyone believes the city should take these steps to protect undocumented immigrants.

“I think it was stupid, a waste of legislation entirely,” Salinas resident Bill Carrothers said. “It creates a magnet that draws every criminal in Mexico here. Here they can live well, in a sanctuary city and prey on our citizens.”

The city attorney said his team will prepare documents for the next few weeks before filing the suit in federal court.

UPDATE 3/7/17 6:31 p.m.: In what’s being called “an aggressive action,” Salinas city leaders announced plans to sue the federal government on Tuesday.

City leaders said they voted unanimously to file a lawsuit against the federal government regarding President Donald Trump’s executive order to withhold federal funding for sanctuary cities.

At this point, Salinas has not officially been designated a sanctuary city but city leaders say it functions like one. They say the pending lawsuit isn’t just a move to protect Salinas but other sanctuary cities from “unconstitutional acts of the president.”

“It is my opinion that any attempt by the federal government to withhold federal funding from Salinas should it become a sanctuary city would be an unconstitutional act. Certainly, the federal government would disagree with that, which would likely result in the city losing federal funding while the city fought to protect itself and its residents, who have come to rely on that funding for essential programs, including programs for street and road repairs and firefighter positions. If the funding is lost, those programs are lost and all of Salinas’s residents end up suffering,” City Attorney Chris Callihan said during Tuesday’s meeting.

They plan to file the suit in federal court within the next several weeks.

PREVIOUS STORY: Tuesday evening Salinas City leaders are diving back into the hot button issue of whether to become a sanctuary city. Council members are planning to discuss the issue in closed session.

Closed session meetings are usually reserved for discussing legal issues and sometimes information is released to the public afterward.

Tuesday afternoon, KION’s Mariana Hicks spoke with Council member Tony Barrera. He believed the closed session would consist of the city attorney letting the council know its legal options.

Two weeks ago, the council rejected a resolution aiming to clarify the city’s sanctuary policies, in a four to three vote. The resolution called for everyone to be treated equally, with dignity and respect, regardless of nationality and immigration status. It also included components like city employees not taking action against someone because of their immigration status and not using city resources to enforce or assist in immigration enforcement.

But it would’ve allowed law enforcement to work with federal immigration agencies in matters of criminal activity and protection of public safety.

Barrera voted yes on the resolution then and said he would do it again now, stating undocumented immigrants make up such a large portion of our local economy.

“A lot of the people that work in our fields right now are undocumented, so you figure, if those people are deported, that means the crops are gone, that means the prices will go up higher. People would lose money, people would lose jobs,” Barrera said.

KION spoke with District 6 Council member John Villegas. He voted against the resolution explaining he wasn’t comfortable with the language of the original version and that it didn’t specify what a sanctuary city policy does and does not do.

Salinas City Council isn’t planning to vote on any resolution or ordinance regarding sanctuary policies Tuesday night.

Mariana Hicks will have more in our 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts. To watch her live report, click here for our livestream.