Pasadena City Council Reaffirms Immigration Policy

PASADENA (CBSLA.com) – The Pasadena City Council passed a resolution late Monday night reaffirming that it will not enforce federal immigration policies.

The city already had a resolution in place that it would not participate in any federal immigration policies. On Monday, it voted unanimously to ensure those city policies are followed by its agencies. However, the council stopped short of calling itself a sanctuary city.

The vote came after the city council heard public comment from dozens of people, all of whom spoke out in favor of making Pasadena a sanctuary city.

"As a result of the immigration policies issued from Washington that ICE comes in the middle of the night to arrest and take away Carlos Ortiz, a gardener from Pasadena, who's now is in detention, that's not the way to treat a child of God, that's not what we want our community to be," one Pasadena man told the city council.

Not a single person who addressed the council spoke out against giving Pasadena sanctuary city status.

The vote comes on the same day that Attorney General Jeff Sessions reinforced the White House administration's threat to potentially cut federal funding to sanctuary cities.