PETALUMA, Calif. – Petaluma City Hall was packed on Tuesday, July 6, as residents and community members urged the City Council to adopt a no-cooperation ordinance with ICE.
Councilmember Janice Cader Thompson said she and Mayor Kevin McDonnell signed an agreement to place the ordinance on a future City Council agenda.
Before the meeting, Migrant Justice in Action – an initiative of the North Bay Organizing Project, organized a teach-in outside City Hall to educate attendees about the proposed ordinance. The meeting was a grassroots coalition of organizations including Sonoma County Tenants Union, Sonoma County Singing Resistance, and the Sonoma County branch of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Gina Garibo is an organizer with the North Bay Organizing Project and Migrant Justice in Action.
“I’m here because I’m an immigrant myself. I know Petaluma can do so much more better to actually make us feel welcome, make us feel like we belong here. And they have a very crucial moment where they can openly say what side of history they are on,” said Gina Garibo in an interview with North Bay Vanguard, “I can tell that by the decision they took today, they are in the right path.”
City council members agreed to agendize the item – a non-collaboration and non-cooperation ordinance regarding immigration enforcement in Petaluma to stop collaboration between ICE and the city.
The proposed ordinance would prohibit the use of city resources and property that would help ICE operations, such as using city parking garages as a staging area or operational base. It would also restrict the city from responding to voluntary requests from ICE or other federal immigration agencies unless required by law or a court order.
Another section of the ordinance lists training all city staff and agents on how to respond when contacted by federal immigration authorities, ensuring employees understand what they can and cannot do under the ordinance.
“As an organizer, I always have hope, and that’s what I try to infuse with people when we are organizing. This system has made us believe that we are powerless, that we cannot change things, but actually united together in a strategic way, we can change so many things,” said Garibo.
The full city hall meeting with public comment can be viewed here.
“I think it’s important to acknowledge [the city council’s] statement regarding welcoming immigrants here, but the most crucial part is the action that they’re going to take. Yes, I feel seen, but I want more,” she said.
Before the meeting, the crowd held speeches and signs advocating against ICE in the city, including Petaluma resident Calvin Walantus.
“We believe this is a strong legal step to protect immigrant residents,” said Calvin Walantus in an interview with North Bay Vanguard.
“It’s well within our constitutional rights-and is a strong step. Today, it looks like we were pretty well received. We got a good reaction from a number of council members, but the fight continues because we need to see if they’ll actually pass it.”
The no-cooperation ordinance would need a majority vote to pass.
“I think it’s going to take some work. But I know at least four of the council members tonight gave pretty strong affirmative statements. One was absent. The other two, I couldn’t quite take away what their stance was going to be,” he said, “ The other big battle is not just are they going to vote yes or no – It’s still up to them to introduce the ordinance.”
“We don’t know what they may or may not want to change. They could make it better. They could also strip away a lot of its power, in which case that’s going to be another form of pressure we’re going to have to put on them,” said Walantus.
Many lined up to voice their concerns to the city council on Tuesday’s meeting.
“The immigrants currently in this community is what keeps it going. They grow our food, they create our wine, they make our restaurants, stores, schools, and communities run. I know this community will protect them with everything they’ve got,” said Kat Nacario during public comment.
“So whether this council chooses to cooperate with ICE or not, and to be either on the right side of history or the wrong, I know this community will protect them come hell or high water,” said Nacario.
While the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors recently passed its own version of a no-cooperation ordinance, community members said it wasn’t enough, saying that the ordinance had a cut out for the sheriff.
Linda Evans is a North Bay civil rights activist and organizer with Migrant Justice in Action. She spent 17 years in prison at FCI Dublin, a former women’s detention center that ICE has proposed converting into an immigration detention facility.
“The ordinance that we have passed in the county, and that we’re trying to pass now in Petaluma and in Santa Rosa, limits the sharing of information by any employee of that city or county. Now we have no problem in the cities because their city police chiefs do not share information with us. There’s no contact with them,” said Linda Evans in an interview with North Bay Vanguard.
”The place we have problems is the sheriff, who is a county employee, because he has no oversight over him. The board of supervisors has no oversight over him. He is independently elected, and for that reason, he pretty much makes up what he wants to do.”
During the city council meeting, public comment was limited to one minute per speaker.
“We had people who are undocumented here who were wearing masks for their own protection. They felt so strongly about wanting to testify that they came, even knowing that it might put them and their family in jeopardy,” said Evans.
“We have a lot of confidence in the community. I believe very, very strongly that if we organize ourselves, it will be a deterrent to ICE, and I think that has been shown to be true in other parts of the country as well.”