The Los Angeles City Council passed a “sanctuary city” ordinance Tuesday unanimously to protect immigrants after President-elect Trump vowed to begin mass deportations.
The ordinance passed on a 13-0 vote Tuesday after it was drafted more than a year ago. The ordinance will codify the protection of migrants in municipal law.
At the council meeting, members of the public expressed concern for the next Trump administration and a desire to protect the city’s immigrant population.
Pro-immigrant protesters spoke on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall before the vote, chanting in Spanish, “What do we want? Sanctuary. When do we want it? Now,” Reuters reported.
“Sanctuary cities” generally refer to local areas that “decline to cooperate completely with the federal detention requests related to undocumented immigrants,” according to Britannica.
On Monday, Trump signaled he would declare an immigration national emergency and use military assets to support mass deportation.
In September, Trump said if he won the election he would call on Congress to pass legislation banning sanctuary cities.
“As soon as I take office, we will immediately surge federal law enforcement to every city that is failing, which is a lot of them, to turn over criminal aliens, and we will hunt down, capture every single gang member, drug dealer, rapist, murderer and migrant criminal that is being illegally harbored,” he said at a campaign rally in North Carolina.
“I will ask Congress to pass a law outlawing sanctuary cities nationwide,” Trump said.
