Thread: Santa Maria, CA: Working together to address challenges

Sunday, February 14, 2010 12:00 am | (6) Comments
Working together to address challenges
Larry Lavagnino/Guest Commentary

Over the past several months, there has been increased attention given to the voices of those who feel enough is not being done by your city leadership in dealing with undocumented immigrants and the impacts they place on the quality of life here in Santa Maria.

As the mayor of this city, there is probably no one more aware of the financial impacts than I. The city is required to provide citizens and non-citizens alike services such as police and fire, without the corresponding revenue from the state and federal governments.

Our city leadership understands the impacts being felt by our citizens, but we don't have the authority, resources or the jurisdiction to rectify this problem.

Immigration control and enforcement is the responsibility of the federal government, so placing blame on the city for local immigration problems is convenient but misguided.

The City Council has as much control over immigration as we do national security, foreign policy and the space program. That is not to say that we have ignored the problem. We have taken an aggressive approach to root out those breaking the laws within our city.

The Santa Maria Police Department has partnered with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to conduct gang-enforcement sweeps in our city. These sweeps have resulted in undocumented felons being arrested and subsequently deported.

Our Police Department also has increased the size of its Gang Suppression Unit. The City Council makes public safety its top priority and directs more than half of the city's entire General Fund budget to public-safety services.

In 2009, through our grant-funded sobriety and license checkpoints and saturation patrols, we issued 1,439 citations to unlicensed drivers and impounded 1,475 vehicles.

Although ICE has been cooperative during our recent gang sweeps, at a recent town hall meeting in Santa Maria the ICE agent in charge stated that his agency is only interested in pursuing illegals involved in felony crimes, not misdemeanors.

They are concentrating on murders, rapes, drug smuggling and human trafficking, not corn vendors operating without a permit. We are, however, working with our code compliance personnel, police and park rangers to address the latter issue.

Some have called for the city to participate in the 287(g) program. The 287(g) program allows states and certain local law enforcement entities to enter into a formal partnership with ICE, to receive delegated authority for immigration enforcement within their jurisdictions.

However, one of the requirements to participate in the 287(g) program is to have a 72-hour holding facility, which our Police Department does not have, so we cannot participate in this program. In fact, that is only one of a number of obstacles prohibiting the city as well as every other city in California from participating in this program.

No other city in the entire state has implemented the 287(g) program, and only four out of 58 counties have implemented it. Santa Barbara County is not one of them.

Santa Maria is a great city because of our diversity. I hope that those who have been the most vocal about this issue sincerely have their sights set on improving our community. If they do, they will understand that our city leadership is committed to working with them to find new ways to better our way of life.

I encourage anyone concerned about these issues to come in and talk with me face-to-face so we can have open and honest discussions regarding this matter.

Having a healthy discussion and debating the true facts may lead to workable solutions to our problems; however, making disparaging and inflammatory remarks does nothing to resolve our problems, and just creates more divisiveness within our community, which benefits no one.

Larry Lavagnino is the mayor of Santa Maria. He can be contacted at llavagnino@ci.santa-maria.ca.us.

www.santamariatimes.com

"Immigration control and enforcement is the responsibility of the federal government, so placing blame on the city for local immigration problems is convenient but misguided.

"The City Council has as much control over immigration as we do national security, foreign policy and the space program. That is not to say that we have ignored the problem. We have taken an aggressive approach to root out those breaking the laws within our city."

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Uuuh, yes you do. You have both the authority and the duty to enforce US immigration law. You have a responsibility to turn the efforts of your police department after the problem of illegal immigration instead of arresting speeders and drug users and kids writing on their desks in school. You have the power. You best adhere to the will of your citizens and use the power so given you to protect the legal voters of your community against the ravages of illegal immigration. If ICE ignores you, you scream bloody hell "AMERICAN JOBS FOR AMERICAN WORKERS" until ICE gets there to remove those you've arrested, and deported them.

What you don't have the right or duty to do is talk down to your citizens and pass the buck to the feds while your citizens suffer the ravages of illegal immigration. That is not a right you have, but you do have the right to do your job and get these people out of your community and by so doing get them out of our country.