As immigration raids continue to sweep through Santa Ana’s car washes and Home Depot parking lots, spreading fear across the 77% Latino community, the city has created a $100,000 fund to help affected families cover basic necessities such as food, rent and utilities.
The emergency fund was proposed by Mayor Valerie Amezcua, who said that the city is in a crisis because of ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. Santa Ana’s sister city of Sahuayo in Michoacán, Mexico, has offered an additional $50,000 gift to assist with the initiative, she said.
“This is about the needs of our community,” Amezcua said at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. “If the father or mother who is the breadwinner is taken from their home, we do not want them to lose their residence.”
The proposal marked a sharp shift for the mayor, who has faced calls to resign over her silence at the outset of President Trump’s immigration crackdown in Southern California in early June. During last week’s City Council meeting, more than a hundred frustrated residents flooded the public comment period, with many lambasting Amezcua for her response to immigration raids and related protests and criticizing the Santa Ana Police Department’s use of force on demonstrators.
Amezcua initially proposed creating a $1-million aid program by canceling eight city-sponsored events: Fourth of July, Chicano Heritage Festival, Fiestas Patrias, Noche de Altares, Tet Festival, Santa Ana Fun Run, Summer Movie Series and Juneteenth.
“We’ve seen in other cities where they have large events and ICE shows up. The troops are going through the parks and taking our families,” she said. “I do not want to have any large events where they can come and harm or take our families.”
But several council members opposed the idea, saying that it is important to continue celebrating the community’s culture and noting that many of these events are months away, when ICE may not be as active.
“I’m not going to be supportive of defunding cultural events in the brownest city in Orange County and making the public choose between celebrating our culture or giving mutual aid,” said Councilmember Johnathan Hernandez. “We should be doing both.”
Hernandez pointed out that Santa Ana is the only city in the country to have a Chicano Heritage Festival celebrating the contributions of trailblazing journalist Ruben Salazar and the only city in Southern California to host a Fiestas Patrias celebrating Mexican independence. “I don’t think it is the right thing to defund these events.”
The council then embarked on a heated hourlong debate over where to pull money to create the fund.
Hernandez suggested using money allocated for vacant positions in the Santa Ana Police Department. Amezcua, however, pushed back, calling his proposal reckless. Then, Councilmember David Penaloza proposed taking the $1 million from the city’s rainy day fund, but city staff explained that the process for pulling from the reserves would require additional meetings and votes.
Ultimately, the council settled on a compromise solution, pulling 10% of funding from city-sponsored events to get a $100,000 emergency fund running immediately. Councilmember Thai Viet Phan, who came up with the motion, added that staff should report back in 90 days or sooner on the efficacy of the fund and suggestions to increase its budget.
During the public comment period, many residents spoke about the pain and trauma ICE raids were continuing to inflict on Santa Ana’s community.
“We have operations happening at our local car washes, at our local Home Depots, our vendors are being taken. A lot is happening all the time and our team has never seen this sort of pain and suffering from our Santa Ana residents,” said Sandra De Anda, a staff member at the Orange County Rapid Response Network, which helps track immigration raids and connect affected families with resources.
De Anda said she conservatively estimates that 20 to 30 people are being detained a day. “I can confidently tell you that because I work with a very committed team of ICE watchers, dispatchers, attorneys, clergy members, and most of us are volunteers,” she said.
Maria Ceja, a lifelong Santa Ana resident, wrote a letter in support of the fund, asking that the city craft a dignified and accessible process for families to receive aid.
“It is most important that the City provides financial support as families navigate life after their loved one has been illegally taken without warning,” she wrote. “We are seeing that many of our neighbors that have been kidnapped are the primary breadwinners of their family. This completely destabilizes their households, especially given the current state of our economy as we continue to see prices raise while wages stagnate.”
Santa Ana’s fund follows in the footsteps of nearby Anaheim, which created the Anaheim Contigo website last month, offering resources to families affected by immigration enforcement and providing emergency assistance grants through a partnership with the Anaheim Community Foundation.
During the meeting, council members also approved a motion to submit a Freedom of Information Act request seeking records pertaining to recent ICE operations in Santa Ana as well as a resolution calling on Congress members representing Orange County to advocate for the removal of immigration agents and the National Guard from the city.
