Santa Maria City Councilmember Gloria Soto looks at the screen during the meeting Tuesday night. She said an ad hoc committee for immigration issues would help the city understand the local impact of federal policies and how to support residents.
Santa Maria City Councilmember Gloria Soto looks at the screen during the meeting Tuesday night. She said an ad hoc committee for immigration issues would help the city understand the local impact of federal policies and how to support residents. Credit: Janene Scully / Noozhawk photo

The Santa Maria City Council delayed until at least February a decision on whether to form a committee focused on immigration matters, and voted without getting comments from audience members in attendance for the item.

The action to delay Tuesday night ended with a unanimous vote, and without any official public comment, leaving one man to loudly voice his displeasure while exiting the meeting.

“We don’t have the privilege to wait until next year. The community’s crying right now,” he shouted.

Councilmember Gloria Flores made the suggestion to delay the item at least a month, saying she wanted more details.

But City Attorney Thomas Watson pushed for a longer delay suggesting early next year after calling the original request by Councilmember Gloria Soto “very ambiguous.”

“I would request a delay to probably January or early February so that staff could vet other similar types of things and bring a panoply of options to council,” Watson said.

The item first appeared on the agenda for the Sept. 16 meeting at the request of Soto in the wake of aggressive federal immigration enforcement.

“These national policies have had a real impact here locally in our schools, businesses and neighborhoods. I truly believe that our role as a council is to listen, to understand and to ensure that our local government is responding appropriately and compassionately to the needs of all residents,” Soto said.

The committee would create “a structured space” to hear directly from community members about federal immigration actions. 

“It’s more about gathering information and understanding how federal policies impact our city and our residents and what we can do to mitigate harm and strengthen the trust between local government and our community members who are being most impacted,” Soto said.

It also would serve as a foundation for collaboration uniting residents, nonprofit leaders, business owners, agricultural industry representatives, educators and others to help spell out concerns and solutions, Soto added.

Activists showed up with signs Tuesday for the Santa Maria City Council meeting item about whether to appoint an ad hoc committee to tackle immigration matters. The council members voted to delay consideration until February.
Activists showed up with signs Tuesday for the Santa Maria City Council meeting item about whether to appoint an ad hoc committee to tackle immigration matters. The council members voted to delay consideration until February. Credit: Janene Scully / Noozhawk photo

Before forming an ad hoc committee and raising expectations, Mayor Alice Patino said she  needed to know whether the city could get involved in immigration matters. Immigration enforcement typically falls under the federal government’s responsibility.

“I don’t know where a city council stands legitimately in order to make even recommendations or to make decisions that we really can’t be making,” Patino said. “I don’t know what legitimizes us in immigration.”

Soto agreed cities can’t change federal law, but can ensure “our local policies, communications and partnerships reflect justice, dignity and safety for all of our residents.”

Councilmembers Carlos Escobedo and Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez also noted the lack of details about the ad hoc committee’s role, membership and more. 

The item first appeared on an agenda last month, but Soto asked the council to wait for the return of Aguilera-Hernandez who was absent.

Last month, more than two dozen people spoke during the meeting, most supporting formation of the ad hoc committee and also calling for the city to create an immigrant legal defense fund as other cities have done and take other steps amid fear.

On Tuesday, Flores said she heard Soto’s passion and shared a similar passion for the immigrant community. 

“I want something that’s going to be effective to enrich our community,” she said.

“I just don’t want to have another committee to have another committee,” Flores added. “We don’t need another committee. We need to do something for our immigrants and I want to be part of that but I don’t want to be on a committee that we’re just spinning our wheels. I want to know why are we doing this?”

“Well, this committee would be tasked at drafting recommendations for the council on how we could take action,” Soto added. 

Despite people submitting requests to speak on the committee issue, members of the public didn’t get to comment on the proposal or the newest delay.

“Now I have people who want to speak on this issue,” the mayor said, prompting the city attorney to answer without turning on his microphone that the “table order” takes care of that.

But state law allows audience members to speak on agenda items whether the council takes action or a matter is merely informational.

Those in the audience had waited to speak when the council took up the agenda item, meaning they missed the earlier general public comment period.

After the vote, Soto acknowledged the audience members, noting they represented the most vulnerable community members. 

“I, for one, see you and I am so grateful for you being here today,” Soto said. 

— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.