The city of El Cajon is scheduled to vote on a resolution to support immigration crackdowns. NBC 7’s Omari Fleming takes a closer look.
The debate over the mass deportations is scheduled to take center stage Tuesday in El Cajon. The city is expected to vote on a resolution to support immigration crackdowns. However, the idea is facing backlash from some in the community.
Residents and activists rallied outside El Cajon City Hall. They came together ahead of Tuesday's council vote on Mayor Bill Wells' proposed resolution.
“I feel targeted," a resident and activist named Jasmine said. "They are targeting our communities and our apartments and businesses."
"We have the right to be respected and treated with dignity," another speaker said.
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The resolution would allow local police officers to help federal authorities with immigration enforcement, as much as state law SB-54 will allow.
“To put that in context of what that means, if we were to arrest somebody for a violent crime, and we knew that that person was say a Venezuelan gang member, we would not be able to call ICE, and say, 'Hey, we've got this Venezuelan gang member here,'" Wells said.
The Trump administration has said the crackdowns are targeting criminals, but from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid caught on camera in Escondido to others in El Cajon, advocates say they're hearing stories across the county of law-abiding migrants being rounded up.
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“Yesterday, they took a friend and single parent and left the child. That's very heart breaking,” Eva Pecheco said while tearing up.
“That has nothing to do with the police officers in El Cajon," Wells said. "El Cajon is not going to be and never will be out there trying to racially profile or trying to find people that are in violation of immigration law. Again, what we're talking about is the ability to take a criminal that we've got in our custody and work with the federal government to get that criminal off our streets."
Despite that reassurance, opponents say the resolution is just a slippery slope under a new administration where they're worried about being profiled.
“I don’t want to carry my passport because I have to prove I’m a USA citizen," Pecheco said. "I don't want to believe in fear and don't want the community to live in fear."
Wells says he spoke with President Donald Trump's border czar about following the rule of federal law. He says he told him he needs protection from the state of California because police officers could be prosecuted for violating the state's sanctuary laws.
