Santa Ana rapper Jay Taj returned an acknowledgement from his hometown following Mayor Valerie Amezcua’s response to anti-ICE protests in the city.
Taj was gifted a certificate of recognition on June 3 in the city council chambers, but decided to give it back during Tuesday’s city council meeting.
“While I remain grateful to the council members for this recognition … I can’t hold onto it with your signature on it,” he told Amezcua. “So I came here to return this to the city of Santa Ana.”
Taj tells KTLA 5 that it wasn’t an easy decision.
“I returned the award to the mayor as a matter of morals. To display a plaque signed by someone who claims to see me, but refuses to see her constituents in their time of need. Her actions raise questions about the meaning of that recognition in the first place,” he said. “This isn’t political. It’s principle.”
The musician wasn’t the only Santa Ana resident who spoke out against the city’s leadership Tuesday night. Several other residents spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting, which lasted for hours and concluded at 1:24 a.m. Wednesday.
The outrage follows a Facebook post made by Amezcua scrutinizing protesters and her fellow city council members for demonstrating in the city. In the post, the mayor called the protests “pure violence.” The city reported no significant damage, except for graffiti and broken glass at federal buildings.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Amezcua, who has been the mayor since 2022, addressed the backlash caused by the post saying, “I do not support what is happening in our city and I never will. If I didn’t respond fast enough, my apologies,” she said at the end of the meeting. “I do not support ICE, I do not want the National Guard in our city.”
The mayor is now facing calls to resign amid the outrage, something she addressed at the end of the city council meeting.
“I encourage some of you to run for office. To sit up here for hours and listen to people tell you what an awful person you are … I’m human. But I also know what I signed up for,” she said.
As tensions continue to rise, some say the mayor’s next move could jeopardize the future of her leadership.
The next city council meeting is set to take place on July 1.
