Lawmakers in Huntington Beach voted unanimously to declare the city a “non-sanctuary city” while also issuing a fawning statement, pledging fealty to the Trump administration.
In the 7-0 vote brought on by Mayor Pat Burns, city council members opted to take up a more stringent and hostile immigration policy in line with “the federal government, the Trump Administration, and Border Czar Tom Homan’s work”, a press release issued Wednesday read.
Sanctuary cities are typically seen as more accessible to immigrants because they “do not honor U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) detainer requests to hold criminal aliens who are already in their custody”, according to the DHS – and therefore view immigration as a benefit to the community.
The surfer’s paradise has gradually become more conservative since 2023 after the city tried to replace Black History Month and Pride with the holidays “Black Gold Jubilee” – to celebrate oil in the city’s history, and “Revolutionary and Civil War” month, to pay homage by holding an re-enactment of the civil war in a public park.
According to the US government census for the City of Huntington Beach, people who were born outside of the U.S. made up 16.4 percent of the population between 2019 to 2023.
In the statement, Mayor Burns said: ‘I am pleased the City Council unanimously supported my initiative. This will be another effective tool to combat crime and it will be a signal to would-be criminals, do not come to Huntington Beach.”
The band of councilors have taken the community by surprise and declared the city’s new status with immediate effect.
City Attorney Michael Gates praised the vote stating: “In California in particular, fighting crime is difficult enough with the relaxed criminal laws and lack of enforcement.
“The State should get out of the way of local law enforcement, stop handcuffing our police officers and California’s cities, and get back to the business of protecting innocent citizens.
“Emphatically, the State should not take a position of violating federal immigration laws or encouraging cities to violate federal immigration laws.”
Between 2021 and 2023, immigrants and children of immigrants represented over half of California’s workforce, according to the University of Southern California’s Equity Research Institute (ERI).
In Huntington Beach City, 76% of immigrants were employed in 2021, according to the ERI.
In the U.S. Election in November 2024, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris won the Orange County vote by just over 2.5 percent winning 49.72 percent compared to Trump at 47.06%.
However, Huntington Beach City voters opted for Republican candidate Lisa Lane Barnes who won 57.8 percent of the vote.
