How will you protect our hard-working immigrant neighbors?

How will you act to protect our hard-working immigrant neighbors from ICE raids, if they happen to show up here? What are your ideas about how best we can address that?

Thank you Lisa for this very important question.  

The City Council aims to ensure that immigrant residents can fully engage in civic life and daily activities without fear of arrest, detention, or being reported to the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency solely due to their immigration status.​

El Ayuntamiento tiene como objetivo garantizar que los residentes inmigrantes puedan participar plenamente en la vida cívica y en las actividades diarias sin temor a ser arrestados, detenidos o reportados a la agencia de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas de los Estados Unidos únicamente debido a su estatus migratorio.

I’m proud to stand with Arcata as a Sanctuary City. As Arcata’s first Latina mayor, I believe we have a responsibility to protect and stand up for our immigrant neighbors and ensure everyone in our community feels safe, welcome, and valued. This is what equity, compassion, and community look like.

As co-founder and director of Comunidad Unida del Norte de Arcata/Community United of North Arcata (CUNA), I understand how important it is that every person in our community feels safe, respected, and able to participate in civic life. CUNA was born during the pandemic out of love for our Spanish-speaking and immigrant community. Our Latinx community was falling between the cracks, and we knew there was a need to help level the playing field and ensure our community had a voice. Through CUNA, we have held Know Your Rights workshops and organized Call Your Senator campaigns to support our immigrant neighbors. I have also attended workshops through Centro del Pueblo. At a community forum in McKinleyville organized by True North Community Action, I was the only Arcata City Council member in attendance. Showing up, listening, and standing with families matters, especially when people are afraid. If ICE comes to Arcata, I would work to ensure our sanctuary-city ordinance and California law are followed, that City staff understand their legal responsibilities, and that City resources and nonpublic information are not used to help ICE except where legally required. We cannot control the federal government, but we can determine how our City responds. I will continue to uphold Arcata’s sanctuary-city commitment and stand with our immigrant neighbors. They are part of our community, and deserve to live, work, raise their families, and access City services without being targeted because of their immigration status.