In a seemingly unremarkable agenda item, Pomona may have just found an alternative legal way to ban new detention centers and curb U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity within the city.
Enveloped in a city zoning update, Ordinance 4365, with stricter rules on warehousing and security fences, included a clearer definition of what constitutes a detention center and the restriction of them across all city zoning.
In a 5-0 vote, with City Councilmembers Debra Martin and Nora Garcia absent, the council on Monday discussed and passed the zoning updates.
“This is one way, it’s not the only way, but this is one of the ways that we can say, ‘You’re not gonna use any property in this city for detention purposes,’” Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval said during the meeting.
According to a staff report, Section 550 of the zoning law will be updated to reflect the changes of prohibiting detention facilities as assembly use in all zoning districts.
This move by the city comes after another move to further restrict Department of Homeland Security and ICE activity in the city by banning the use of city property for staging purposes, which was passed in April.
Both the ban on detention facilities in the zoning laws and the restriction of ICE’s use of city-owned properties mirror efforts by the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County.
California legislators have also attempted to ban detention centers specific to DHS and ICE, but their efforts have been thwarted by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and they have now pivoted to using zoning laws.
Pomona is no stranger to increased ICE and DHS activity in the city, as arrests of at least 20 day laborers made headlines.
The city also joined in with other California cities such as Los Angeles and Santa Ana in a lawsuit to limit federal immigration raids last July.
Several speakers spoke in favor of the council banning detention centers and cited fear of repeating grievous mistakes such as the Pomona Fairplex being used to hold Japanese-Americans for internment during World War II.
“Today, in Pomona, the federal forces of ICE are searching for brown-skinned people to fill their detention centers to meet quotas and earn bonuses. Citizens go to detention centers, too,” Mark McReynolds said during the meeting. “You read the news, you’ll see that. I ask that you tell ICE, ‘no detention centers in Pomona.’ No, we won’t let injustice and suffering ever recur.”
“I was so grateful that the staff, the planning commission and the City Council were proactive in forecasting many hazards of our community that we should be concerned about, including mega warehouses and data centers,” Kyle Brown said during the meeting. “ But we couldn’t foresee everything. None of us thought detention facilities were something we should be concerned about. We were also innocent back then.”
The changes in Pomona’s updated ordinance will go into effect 30 days after a second reading on July 15.
“I think as it relates to the detention centers, I truly believe that it speaks to the values of our city, speaks to the values of this council,” Sandoval said. “I think we’ve been very responsive to trying to address the real needs of people who have been unconstitutionally targeted.”