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Home My WebLink AboutCoorespondence - Item 22 Becerra, Alexis From: Angeles Ochoa Carmona <aochoa@occord.org> Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2026 3:23 PM To: eComment Subject: Public Comment 05/16 Council Meeting, Items 22 and 23 Attachments: 05_19 Public Comment Item 22 and 23.pdf Attention: This email originated from outside of City of Santa Ana.Use caution when opening attachments or links. Good afternoon, Please find my attached public comment regarding Item 22 and 23 for today's council meeting. Please distribute it to the City Council and include it in the public record. Thank you. Best, Angeles Ochoa Carmona Digital Organizer x .o,� ........ .,o... .F....o..... Fom........... aochoa@occord.org www.occord.org 1505 E 17th St,Suite 122,Santa Ana,CA 92705 1 Good evening Mayor and Councilmembers, My name is Angeles Ochoa, I am a Santa Ana resident and the Digital Organizer at OCCORD, where I work closely with immigrant families across Orange County. I am speaking in support of Items 22 and 23. Through our work organizing citizenship clinics, family preparedness workshops and community outreach efforts, we regularly work with immigrant families who already live with a great deal of fear and uncertainty. Many are lawful permanent residents, mixed-status families, longtime residents and community members who simply want to feel safe accessing schools, healthcare, city services and public spaces without fear tied to immigration enforcement. Policies that clearly separate local law enforcement from federal immigration enforcement are critical to maintaining trust between the community and the City. When residents fear that local officers may also be connected to immigration enforcement through secondary employment, it creates confusion, fear and distrust. That fear can discourage people from reporting crimes, seeking emergency assistance, cooperating with investigations or participating in civic life altogether. As someone who works directly with impacted families, I can say that trust is one of the biggest factors in whether community members feel safe enough to ask for help or engage with local institutions. These items send an important message that Santa Ana is committed to protecting that trust and ensuring that local public safety resources remain focused on serving and protecting residents, rather than supporting immigration enforcement activities. I also support the City expressing support for AB 1537, which would help close loopholes in existing state law and create clearer protections and accountability statewide. For many immigrant families, trust is not built through words alone it is built through policies, actions, and the decisions local leaders make. I respectfully urge the Council to support both items. Thank you. Sincerely, Angeles Ochoa, Digital Organizer Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development(OCCORD) Becerra, Alexis From: Sandra De Anda <sandra@ocrapidresponse.org> Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2026 4:01 PM To: eComment Cc: Karen G. Hernandez; Casey Conway; Kelsey Gordon Subject: Item 22 - Ordinance Codifying the Prohibition of Immigration-Related Secondary Employment for Santa Ana Police Officers -Attention: This email originated from outside of City of Santa Ana.Use caution when opening attachments or links. May 19,2026 Mayor Amezcua and Members of the Council City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92701 Re:Item 22 - Ordinance Codifying the Prohibition of Immigration-Related Secondary Employment for Santa Ana Police Officers Dear Mayor Amezcua and Members of the City Council, On behalf of the Orange County Rapid Response Network,we write in support of Item 922, directing the City Manager and City Attorney to prepare an Ordinance for the City of Santa Ana(City)codifying the prohibition of immigration- related secondary employment for City Police Department personnel;AND strongly request that any ordinance prepared prohibit immigration-related secondary employment for all City personnel/contractors. Through our on-the-ground work,we have witnessed deep distrust of the local Santa Ana Police Department. This distrust is rooted in the county Jail's historical role as a facility that detained undocumented community members, as well as the longstanding treatment many undocumented residents have experienced at the hands of this department. Families in our participatory defense space have shared experiences of brutality, criminalization, and harm connected to this very department. We have also witnessed the impact of the City's negligence regarding its U Visa certification policy one of the few potential forms of deportation relief available to undocumented survivors of crime. Many community members who may have qualified for U Visa protections were denied meaningful access to this process and are now facing deportation, or have already been deported. The Santa Ana Police Department has also withheld information regarding ICE presence and activity in the community, despite the department's own records division possessing documentation evidencing ICE operations locally. This has further deepened community distrust and raised serious concerns about transparency and accountability,particularly around why the department chose not to disclose information that directly impacted undocumented residents and their families. It is important that such an ordinance prohibiting immigration-related secondary employment apply to all City personnel/contractors as we know that immigration related employment includes a large range of roles that could be filled by personnel/contractors across City Departments and Agencies,not just the Police Department. Such a prohibition would be in alignment with the City's Sanctuary City Ordinance that applies to all personnel. The City is home to a large and diverse immigrant population. Maintaining clear boundaries between all City personnel/contractors and federal immigration enforcement is critical to ensuring that the immigrant population that resides in the City feel safe reporting crimes, accessing services, and engaging with all personnel/contractors,including 1 those that oversee public safety. When those boundaries become unclear, fear and distrust increase,making services less accessible and communities less safe for everyone. We strongly urge the City Council to move forward with an ordinance that will prohibit all City Staff/contractors, not just the Police Department personnel, from immigration related secondary employment. By codifying such a policy into the City's Municipal Code,the City will reaffirm its commitment to transparency, accountability, community- oriented policing, its Sanctuary City status and values. This department still has significant work to do to rebuild trust with undocumented community members, and taking meaningful steps toward transparency and accountability could serve as an important and strategic step in that process.Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Karen G. Hernandez Managing Director Casey Conway Director of Organizing& Development Sandra De Anda Director of Policy& Legal Strategy Kelsey Gordon Director of Advocacy& Operations Sandra De Anda Pronouns: (She/Ella) Director of Policy and Legal Strategy Orange County Rapid Response Network www.ocrapidresponse.org Email: sandra(&ocrapidresponse.org THIS MESSAGE IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE USE OF THE INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY TO WHICH IT IS ADDRESSED AND MAY CONTAIN INFORMATION THAT IS PRIVILEGED,CONFIDENTIAL AND EXEMPT FROM DISCLOSURE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW. 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