San Diego County Board advances ordinance further limiting ICE cooperation

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday advanced an ordinance that would further limit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The proposal — known as the Civil Liberties Enforcement and Accountability Rules ordinance, or CLEAR ordinance — would strengthen the county’s existing policy of not cooperating with federal immigration enforcement by barring agents from non-public areas of county property unless they have a warrant signed by a judge. It would also require regular reporting on any cooperation with federal law enforcement.

The ordinance was first proposed in the fall, around the same time the city of San Diego passed a similar policy.

The three Democrats on the Board voted to advance the measure to a second reading, scheduled for Jan. 28. Republican Supervisor Joel Anderson voted against, and Republican Supervisor Jim Desmond was not in attendance.

While the measure itself was not new, after an ICE officer fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis last week, enforcement was top of mind during the meeting and at a student-organized protest outside.

“We cannot undo what happened in Minnesota,” Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer said. “But we can decide what kind of local government we will be here in San Diego.”

“I naively believed that if you were a U.S. citizen, we would be safe,” one supporter said during public comment, reflecting on the shooting in Minneapolis. “Now, no one is safe.”

“It’s been, I think, a very intense, very scary year for a lot of folks,” said Erin Tsurumoto-Grassi of Alliance San Diego, after speaking in favor of the ordinance. “Really this came into being as a response to the community need. Our communities have seen intense enforcement over the last year.”

The vast majority of people who spoke on the ordinance were in favor, as well as 93 of 98 comments submitted online.

“Really, local involvement is crucial at this point because I don’t even know if we can trust Congress, or the Senate, or the Supreme Court, but we have this here as a tool to fight back,” said Lori Lipsman, who also spoke in favor of the measure.

The county already has in place a policy prohibiting the use of county resources for immigration enforcement, and no local policy can prevent or stop federal activities – but supporters said this ordinance is a statement of values.

“There are our neighbors. They’re our coworkers. They’re our loved ones,” Supervisor Paloma Aguirre said. “Protecting due process and fundamental rights is not an abstract exercise. It is our responsibility we owe to the people we serve.”

“The CLEAR ordinance makes it abundantly clear that no one operates above the Constitution, above the rule of law,” Lawson-Remer said.

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication.