Despite President Donald Trump’s Executive Order warning against possible federal funding cuts to cities that declare themselves “sanctuaries,” council agreed to join the ranks alongside Los Angeles and West Hollywood — among other municipalities — by not using city funds or resources to assist federal immigration enforcement in the planned deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants.
According to a staff report, the city receives approximately $46,000 in federal funds annually, with occasional one-time project grants.
Conversation about Malibu becoming a “sanctuary city” had been lingering in the community and council for weeks — it was postponed at council’s last regular meeting, and with council members and the public eager to get to the topic at hand, all members unanimously agreed to push it forward in the meeting’s long agenda to ensure it would be heard.
In a narrow 3-2 vote at the conclusion of the meeting, the majority of council came to the agreement to become a “sanctuary city,” meaning Malibu would not use public funds, city resources or staff time to assist in enforcing federal immigration law.
Although no mention of any further efforts to assist undocumented immigrants was mentioned at the meeting, council agreed this was a matter of political symbolism and nothing else, which Council Member Rick Mullen called an act of “propaganda,” and “public relations” because of Malibu’s national status and name recognition.
Members of the community shared this concern that becoming a “sanctuary,” would change nothing at all, saying it was unnecessary.
“We are the Malibu City Council; our area of responsibility is the City of Malibu. These are national laws we’re talking about,” Mullen said.
Council Member Laura Rosenthal, who introduced the subject to council, expressed her concern, especially for undocumented individuals who may reside in the city.
“I would feel better knowing that Malibu has a policy not to take city resources to try to round up these people,” Rosenthal said. “This has nothing to do with criminals.”
With one member of the council out of state and another out of the country, Mayor Lou La Monte and Mayor Pro Tem Skylar Peak participated in the meeting via teleconference and agreed with Rosenthal that this was a necessary act of symbolism. The three cast votes in favor.
Mayor La Monte reminded council that during the last regular meeting, the council allocated $5,000 toward a memorial that will remember those that were imprisoned at Manzanar, a Japanese Internment Camp, during WWII.
“I’m concerned about something like that happening again,” La Monte said, “so maybe it is time to make a symbolic action.”
City Attorney Christi Hogin said there are no laws being broken by the choice to not use the city’s funds to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. “The city has the option of whether or not it wants to use its resources to assist the Federal government in enforcing those laws,” Hogin said.
Although the council’s decision was only intended to be symbolic as of now, other members of the community said they would like to see more effort.
Ted Vaill, Malibu Democratic Club member, spoke in favor of the sanctuary city movement and recommended that there be “Know Your Rights” information sheets to assist undocumented immigrants with potential legal situations.
“Even though they may be undocumented, they have rights, too,” Vaill said.
Opposition to becoming a “sanctuary city” became a twofold argument among the public and council. The first issue pointed directly to President Trump’s executive order, dated Jan. 25, that “sanctuaries” would no longer receive federal funding if they chose to limit their cooperation with federal immigration agencies: “[Sanctuary jurisdictions] are not eligible to receive Federal grants, except as deemed necessary for law enforcement purposes by the Attorney General or the Secretary.”
The other issue expressed by public speakers was the overall idea behind the City of Malibu supporting undocumented immigrants and what it actually stood for to become such a city.
Elizabeth Stevens was one of a number of Malibu resdidents to speak against the action.
“We’ve already lost the control of illegal immigration,” Stevens said. She added the existence of “sanctuaries” encourages illegal immigration and more crime. “They break the law to come in and they continue to break the law.”