SACRAMENTO, CA – The California Senate passed a resolution last week denouncing recent federal immigration raids that lawmakers say have terrorized immigrant communities and violated constitutional rights, according to a press release from the Office of State Senator María Elena Durazo.
Senate Joint Resolution 9, co-authored by Senators María Elena Durazo, Jesse Arreguín, Anna Caballero and Melissa Hurtado, formally condemns militarized immigration raids carried out by federal agents in California since early June. The resolution emphasizes that these operations have targeted Latino communities in particular, resulting in fear, family separation and racial profiling, as stated in the press release.
The resolution passed following a press conference featuring Durazo, members of the Latino Caucus, Diversity Caucuses and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, as reported in the press release.
The press release details that on June 11, ICE agents conducted a raid in Senator Durazo’s Boyle Heights district without presenting a warrant or identification. Durazo described the event during a press conference, stating agents rammed their car between two unmarked vehicles on Whittier Boulevard, pointed guns at the individual, used tear gas and forcibly removed him from his vehicle while his partner and two children watched.
“This strategy is clear-cut racial profiling,” Durazo said, according to the press release. “They are targeting Latinos more than anyone. If you look foreign born, the agents go after you.”
Durazo framed the raids within a broader moral and historical context, citing religious teachings from the Book of Leviticus, Buddha and Islam. “Why did all of the Holy Books need to include these teachings?” she asked during her floor remarks, according to the press release. “Because human history is the story of migration. The story of strangers looking for something better or escaping something worse.”
The press release notes that SJR 9 rejects the criminalization of peaceful protest and racial profiling and affirms California’s commitment to protect all residents regardless of immigration status. It also calls for expanded legal services and emergency resources for families impacted by these raids.
Bruno Huizar, supervising policy manager with the California Immigrant Policy Center, a co-sponsor of the resolution, stated in the press release, “Everyone in California deserves safety, dignity and due process, regardless of immigration status — but the immigration raids and enforcement actions being carried out by unidentified, masked federal agents dressed in war regalia tear families apart, terrorize neighborhoods and erode trust between communities and government institutions.”
Jeannette Zanipatin, director of policy and advocacy at CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Los Angeles), another co-sponsor, emphasized in the press release, “While this administration wants to distract and goad the American public about what is taking place in LA, they are trampling on the rights of immigrants and their families. We will not stand by and allow this abuse of power from taking place, nor will we condone the unlawful and unconstitutional acts taken on the ground over the last twenty-eight days.”
Zanipatin continued, according to the press release, “This resolution allows us to send a clear message to our immigrant community, that our communities deserve to be treated with humanity and not be beaten down by masked agents, our families deserve to find those that have been disappeared from our community, and our detained family members deserve to have access to legal counsel, medical care and basic human rights.”
The press release highlighted community responses such as the LA Street Vendor Solidarity Fund, which has been providing food, supplies and rent assistance to affected families, and a Cal State LA student-led collective of more than 500 volunteers distributing groceries to families in East Los Angeles. Durazo also shared a story from her district of two military brothers accompanying their mother in uniform to immigration court to protect her from ICE.
During her closing Senate floor remarks, Durazo posed a moral question to her colleagues, as recorded in the press release: “It’s not a question about what President Trump wants. It’s not a question about what Governor Newsom wants. It’s not even a question about what the public wants. It is simply a question that each one of us must ask and answer ourselves… ‘What does God want us to do?’”
The press release states that the resolution was co-sponsored by the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, the California Immigrant Policy Center and CARECEN-LA (Central American Resource Center-LA), with support from more than 100 organizations across California.
Although SJR 9 does not carry the force of law, its passage signals California lawmakers’ continued resistance to federal immigration enforcement practices they deem discriminatory and unconstitutional, according to the press release.
