Protesters Clash Before Los Alamitos Votes To Opt Out Of Sanctuary State Law

LOS ALAMITOS (CBSLA) — The Los Alamitos City Council gave final approval to an ordinance exempting the small Orange County city from the state's sanctuary city law.

The council voted 4-1 in favor of the ordinance, which set off a wave of similar action throughout Orange County.

Before the vote, emotions boiled over outside the Los Alamitos City Hall as immigrant and civil rights groups clashed with Trump supporters over sanctuary law.

"I'm here to stand for immigrants. Legal immigrants," said Gerald Thomas. "That's the problem with their side. They're not distinguishing between legal and illegal immigrant."

"I think all people should be treated with dignity," said Jan Meslan. "There's a lot of hate against immigrants."

Los Alamitos, the first California city to cast a preliminary vote to opt out of California's sanctuary law, is considered ground zero for the battle against SB54.

Huge crowds protested outside as people lined up for hours to address the council, which oversees a population of 11,449.

"What they're doing right now is completely breaking up communities," said Minerva Gomez.

"These policies put our society in jeopardy," said Cyrus Hojjaty. "A lot of problems."

Attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union say they will sue the city over the ordinance.