SPECIAL MEETING, AD HOC ON IMMIGRANT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE. Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Transcription

1 Called by Committee Chair SPECIAL MEETING, AD HOC ON IMMIGRANT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE Wednesday, April 12, 2017 JOHN FERRARO COUNCIL CHAMBER, ROOM 340, CITY HALL - 4:00 PM 200 NORTH SPRING STREET, LOS ANGELES, CA MEMBERS: COUNCILMEMBER GILBERT A. CEDILLO, CHAIR COUNCILMEMBER JOSE HUIZAR COUNCILMEMBER NURY MARTINEZ COUNCILMEMBER CURREN D. PRICE, JR. COUNCILMEMBER DAVID E. RYU (John A. White - Legislative Assistant - (213) or john.white@lacity.org) Click here for agenda packets Note: For information regarding the Committee and its operations, please contact the Committee Legislative Assistant at the phone number and/or address listed above. The Legislative Assistant may answer questions and provide materials and notice of matters scheduled before the City Council. Sign Language Interpreters, Communication Access Real-Time Transcription (CART), Assistive Listening Devices, or other auxiliary aids and/or services may be provided upon request. To ensure availability, you are advised to make your request at least 72 hours prior to the meeting/event you wish to attend. Due to difficulties in securing Sign Language Interpreters, five or more business days notice is strongly recommended. For additional information, please contact the Legislative Assistant listed above. ITEM NO. (1) Chief Legislative Analyst report relative to the appointment of an Immigrant Advocate. Fiscal Impact Statement Submitted: No Community Impact Statement: None submitted ITEM NO. (2) The California Rising Collaborative to present a verbal report relative to Wednesday - April 12, PAGE 1

2 immigrant affairs. If you challenge this Committee's action(s) in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the City Clerk at or prior to, the public hearing. Any written correspondence delivered to the City Clerk before the City Council's final action on a matter will become a part of the administrative record. Materials related to an item on this agenda submitted to the committee after distribution of the agenda packet are available for public inspection in the City Clerk's Office at 200 North Spring Street, Room 395, City Hall, Los Angeles, CA during normal business hours. Wednesday - April 12, PAGE 2

3 REPORT OF THE CHIEF LEGISLATIVE ANALYST DATE: TO: April 10, 2017 Honorable Members of the Ad Hoc Committee on Immigrant Affairs FROM: Sharon M. Tso6f/^ Chief LegislativeAnalyst Council File No: Assignment No: City Council Appointment of Immigrant Advocate SUMMARY On January 20, 2017, the Los Angeles City Council adopted a Motion (Cedillo-Huizar-Wesson-Harris- Dawson-O Farrell-Price-Ryu) instructing our Office and the City Administrative Officer, with the assistance of the City Attorney and the Mayor s Office of Immigrant Affairs, to report to Council on several items related to immigrant affairs (C.F ; Attachment A). This report focuses on the Council s request to identify the roles and responsibilities of an Immigrant Advocate to be appointed by the City Council. Subsequent to adoption of this Motion, Council President proposed the selection of Mr. Peter Schey, Esq. as the Immigrant Advocate. The Immigrant Advocate would serve as an advisor to the City Council and would be requested to provide advice related to immigrant affairs including the following: Review of current City policies aimed at protecting immigrants from discrimination and recommendations to enhance such policies; Development of strategies to protect the City against the current administration s executive orders; Collaboration with the Los Angeles Unified School District, Los Angeles Community College District, and other public and private colleges and universities to identify mutual areas of concern and coordinate strategies to protect students and keep families together; Work with community groups and immigration advocates to establish clear paths of communication to educate the community relative to protections against Notarios and other individuals that take advantage of immigrant communities. Identify areas of potential collaboration with County, State and federal governments to develop comprehensive strategies that may result in legislative, administrative and/or legal action to protect the City s constituents. Respond to requests by the City Council and the Ad Hoc Committee on Immigrant Affairs. Mr. Schey has preliminarily agreed to serve on the basis of $ 1 per year for a one-year term effective upon approval by the City Council. Mr. Schey is the Founder and President of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. He is the Co-Founder of El Rescate and the Coalition for Humane and Immigration Reform of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) and he is the founder of the National Immigration Law Center. Mr. Schey was also the codrafter of the federal immigration legalization (amnesty) law enacted by Congress in 1986 and the LIFE Act legalization program enacted by Congress in RECOMMENDATIONS That the City Council: 1) Approve the Council President s selection of Mr. Peter Schey to provide immigration advocacy / consulting services to the City. «W@HS> CD Wednesday - April 12, PAGE 3

4 2) 3) Find that the services to be provided by Mr. Peter Schey are for the performance of professional, scientific, expert, technical, or other special services of a temporary and occasional character for which competitive bidding is not practicable or advantageous and that the work can be performed more economically or feasibly by independent contractors than by City employees. Instruct the Chief Legislative Analyst to negotiate and execute the necessary agreement with Mr. Peter Schey for the above purposes at the rate of $1 per year, subject to the approval of the City Attorney as to form. Feiipe Valladolid Chavez Legislative Analyst SMT:fvc Attachments: A) Motion (Cedillo-Huizar-Wesson-Harris-Dawson-O Farrell-Price-Ryu) 2 Wednesday - April 12, PAGE 4

5 gjo MOTION Mil ItECOTS 5 WliKllBi Wir In the aftermath of the election of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States, many residents throughout the City of Los Angeles and our.region are deeply concerned about the tmeertainty that change will bring with respect to immigration policies, funding, and law enforcement over the duration of a Trump presidency. These concerns should not be underestimated. As one of the most diverse cities in the United Slates of America, the City of Los Angeles is a melting pot of ethnic groups, languages, religions, and a place called home by large immigrant and migrant populations coming here from all over the world. Not only do we have communities named Kureatown, Historic Filipinotown, Chinatown, Little Bangladesh, Thai Town, Little Ethiopia, Little Tokyo, and Little Armenia, the City of Los Angeles has one of the largest populations (and many times the largest) of various ethnic groups outside of their country of origin as well. Just a few examples include Mexicans, Salvadorans. Hondurans, Nicaraguans, Hthiopians, Lebanese, Iranians, Armenians, Israelis, Saudi Arabians, Bosnians, Puerlu Ricans, Pacific Islanders, Burmese, Cambodians, Chinese, Filipinos, Indonesians, Koreans, Sri Lankans, and Thai. This does not even begin to take into account our religious diversity that has made the City of Los Angeles home to the fourth largest Muslim population in the United States, as well as the second largest Jewish population in the country. According to the most recent statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau s 2014 American Community Survey, with a population of over 3.8 million people, approximately 38,6 percent (1.49 million) of the City of Los Angeles' residents are foreign-bom, and 57.3 percent (853,721) of foreign, born, residents in the City are not currently citizens. This translates to the very real possibility that one out of every live Angelenos are likely to be affected by changes to immigration, policies, funding, and enforcement at the federal level. As members of the Los Angeles City Council, it is our responsibility to protect and enhance the quality of life for all of our residents regardless of national origin, religion, ethnic group, language, sexual orientation, gender, marital status or immigration status. It is imperative that as residents and leaders of the greatest city on the planet, we need to educate and prepare ourselves to defend our values, to defend our quality of life, to defend keeping students and families together, and to defend our neighborhoods from any attempts to change what makes our City so great.,. the people, WE THEREFORE MOVE that the City Council INSTRUCT the Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA) and the City Administrative Officer (CAO), with the assistance of'the City Attorney and the Mayor s Office of Immigrant Affairs, to report back by January 1,2.017 with regard to the following; 1 2 * 4 1. Identify the roles and responsibilities of an Immigrant Advocate to be appointed by the City Council and to work in conjunction with the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs 2, Define the term sanctuary city and how that term might apply to the City of Los Angeles 3 Identify and categorize all. federal grants, loans, and other funding that the City of Los Angeles currently receives 4, Identify all state laws applicable to immigration and relevant to the City of Los Angeles that may come into conflict with potential changes in federal law v 1/ Wednesday - April 12, PAGE 5

6 5. Identify all federal laws applicable to immigration and relevant to the City of Los Angeles that arc currently enacted and not being enforced WE FURTHRE MOVE that the City Council INSTRUCT the CLA and the CAO to work with the l,os Angeles Unified School District and Los Angeles Community College District, with the assistance of the Mayor s Office of Immigrant Affairs, to identify mutual areas of concent and coordinate strategies to protect students and keep families together, and provide updates to the City Council beginning January 1,2017 on a quarterly basis. WE FURTHER MOVE that the City Council INSTRUCT the CLA and the CAO, with the assistance of the Mayor s Office of Immigrant Affairs, to identify areas of potential collaboration with all levels of local government, including the County of Los Angeles, and the State of California, in order to develop comprehensive strategies that may result in legislative and/or legal action to protect our residents. PRESENTED BY: HfSij^lssoNTjie7^ CouncOmcmbcr, 10th District GlL QEDILLO Cwnrcilmeiriber, l*1 District m i m m mm *»» '"'7 JOSE HU1ZAR Coundlmember, 14th District SECONDED BY: v9 A 7\ r Wednesday - April 12, PAGE 6

7 3 MOTION «$, ELECTIONS«MTERGOVERNMENTAL HELATKF In the aftermath of the election of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States, many residents throughout the City of Los Angeles and our region are deeply concerned about the uncertainty that change will bring with respect to immigration policies, funding, and law enforcement over the duration of a Trump presidency. These concerns should not be underestimated. As one of the most diverse cities in the United States of America, the City of Los Angeles is a melting pot of ethnic groups, languages, religions, and a place called home by large immigrant and migrant populations coming here from all over the world, Not only do we have communities named Koreatown, Historic Filipinotown, Chinatown, Little Bangladesh, Thai Town, Little Lthiopia, Little Tokyo, and L.ittle Armenia, the City of Los Angeles has one of the largest populations (and many times the largest) of various ethnic groups outside of their country of origin as well. Just a few examples include Mexicans, Salvadorans, Hondurans, Nicaraguans, Ethiopians, Lebanese, Iranians, Armenians, Israelis, Saudi Arabians, Bosnians, Puerto Ricans, Pacific Islanders, Burmese, Cambodians, Chinese. Filipinos, Indonesians. Koreans. Sri Lankans, and Thai. This does not even begin to take into account our religious diversity that has made the City of Los Angeles home to the fourth largest Muslim population in the United States, as well as the second largest Jewish population in the country. According to the most recent statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau s 2014 American Community Survey, with a population of over 3.8 million people, approximately 38.6 percent (1.49 million) of the City of Los Angeles residents are foreign-bom, and 57.3 percent ( ) of foreign born residents in the City arc not currently citizens. This translates to the very real possibility that one out of every live Angelenos are likely to be affected by changes to immigration policies, funding, and enforcement at the federal level. As members of the Los Angeles City Council, it is our responsibility to protect and enhance the quality of life for all of our residents regardless of national origin, religion, ethnic group, language, sexual orientation, gender, marital status or immigration status. It is imperative that as residents and leaders of the greatest city on the planet, we need to educate and prepare ourselves to defend our values, to defend our quality of life, to defend keeping students and families together, and to defend our neighborhoods from any attempts to change what makes our City so great... the people. WE THEREFORE MOVE that the City Council INSTRUCT the Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA) and the City Administrative Officer (CAO), with the assistance of the City Attorney and the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, to report back by January with regard to the following: 1. Identify the roles and responsibilities of an Immigrant Advocate to be appointed by the City Council and to work in conjunction with the Mayor s Office of Immigrant Affairs 2, Define the term sanctuary city and how that term might apply to the City of Los Angeles 3 Identify and categorize all federal grants, loans, and other funding that the City of Los Angeles currently receives 4. Identify all stale laws applicable to immigration and relevant to the City of Los Angeles that may come into conflict with potential changes in federal law Wednesday - April 12, PAGE 7

8 5. Identify all federal laws applicable to immigration and relevant to the City of Los Angeles that are currently enacted and not being enforced WE Fl/RTHRE MOVE that the City Council INSTRUCT the CLA and the CAO to work with the Los Angeles Unified School District and Los Angeles Community College District, with the assistance of the Mayor s Office of Immigrant Affairs, to identify mutual areas of concern and coordinate strategies to protect students and keep families together, and provide updates to the City Council beginning January 1,2017 on a quarterly basis. WE FURTHER MOVE that the City Council INSTRUCT the CLA and the CAO, with the assistance of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, to identify areas of potential collaboration with all levels of local government, including the County of Los Angeles, and the State of California, in order to develop comprehensive strategies that may result in legislative and/or legal action to protect our residents. PRESENTED BY: _,,, herb W esson, jrf' Councilmcmber, 10lh District >i\ G\L OEDILLO Cobtfcilm ember, Is1 District A,4^. JOSE HUIZAR Councilmember, 14th District SECONDED BY: MV / J2, CLP C J Wednesday - April 12, PAGE 8