Santa Cruz County’s Latino Affairs Commission is preparing to push supervisors to put their informal support for the region’s immigrant community into law with a legally binding sanctuary ordinance that would prevent county workers from sharing information with federal agents or employing surveillance technology that can be used to track immigrants.
The board of supervisors passed a resolution in December reaffirming the county’s sanctuary status after President Donald Trump’s election to a second term. The resolution says county resources should not be used to enforce federal immigration laws or target residents based on their immigration status.
While the resolution is a source of reassurance to the immigrant community, it lacks actual enforcement mechanisms as an ordinance would, said Emmanuel Nevarez, chair of the Latino Affairs Commission and a member of the Santa Cruz County Immigration Coalition, a collective of nonprofits and grassroots organizers who advocate for undocumented residents…