By Ventura Breeze Staff –
The Ventura city council proposed protections for LGBTQ+ people and immigrants at the Ventura City Council meeting on March 18. Officials discussed the CARE Policy, which helps to strengthen protections for LGBTQ people, immigrants and those seeking reproductive care.
The Ventura City Council meeting was a five-hour jammed meeting with over 130 people signed up to speak. Councilmember Liz Campos who introduced the Community Autonomy, Rights and Equality Policy, pulled it from voting. Campos plans to fine-tune its language and bring it back to the council at another meeting.
She stated, “In addition to filling potholes and making decisions about smaller projects, I think that our residents expect us to protect them.”
The CARE Policy calls for local officials and law enforcement to refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement and potential investigations into people giving or receiving gender-affirming or reproductive care.
Mayor Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios said she would “rather have people be mad at me because I voted this down than to be happy with me because I’m voting for something that’s still not going to do what they think it’s going to do.” She did not want to give people “a false sense of protection, a false sense of hope.”
Deputy Mayor Doug Halter stated, “I’m not convinced that we’re not going to be putting millions of dollars for this city at risk,” adding that he understood the need for people “who are being attacked” to feel protected.
Councilmember Campos said the ordinance was intentionally sweeping in scope to protect “communities under attack by a president who thinks that he can use executive orders to change the Constitution.”
Councilmember Bill McReynolds said the council should look into a statement instead of something as formal as a resolution The Ventura CARE Policy would bar the use of city funds, resources and personnel to aid federal immigration enforcement activities, including deportation raids, detentions, or investigations initiated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other federal entities.
