City Council - Regular Meeting

Yes. away.

Welcome everyone. It's 5:30, so we're going to go ahead and call our meeting to order. We'll begin with a roll call from our city clerk, Kathy Valdez. The record shall reflect that all members are present. Our deputy mayor, Melendez, will lead us in the pledge of allegiance this evening. Please rise.

Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, if you would come to order and hear what I've got to say right now, I'd appreciate it. Uh, everybody's going to get a chance to speak tonight and uh, all that we ask of you is that you are respectful to every other speaker and give them an opportunity to be heard. This is a public uh, meeting just like being in a court of law. The ordinances the Vista Municipal Code require that members of the public observe, order, and decorum at our meetings and conduct themselves in a courteous manager manner. This ordinance was adopted to allow for public input and to facilitate city business without disruption of the meeting. Disruptive behavior such as applause or heckling will not be tolerated in the city council chambers or in the overflow in the community room. If anyone conducts themselves in a disruptive manner during the meeting to the extent possible, it is my duty as the presiding officer to warn the disruptive individual a maximum of two times to conduct themselves in a courteous and respectful manner. Any individual who continues to act in a disruptive manner uh will cause a recess in the meeting, the clearing of the chambers, and the disruptive person will be removed after which time the meeting will continue. We appreciate everybody's cooperation. We're all Americans. We're all Vistans. Let's all treat each other with respect tonight. Now, if you'd like to speak on the item that's on tonight's agenda, please fill out a speaker slip. They're available on the table just outside the council chambers. And we're asking until 6 p.m. that they be returned to our staff that's at the

table just outside the council chamber doors. Speaker slips must be submitted by the person wishing to speak. Staff at the table outside the city council chambers will accept slips until 6 pm after which they will be accepted here at the uh by the clerk at the end of the dis. Each speaker will be assigned a number to assist us in managing the large number of speakers that we have this evening. When I announce the block of numbers that indic includes your number, please line up in the city council chambers. For the members of the public that are participating via Zoom, you may use the raise your hand feature to indicate that you'd like to speak or press star 9 on your phone. We will take comments from Zoom after all the speakers in attendance have been heard. Speakers will each have three minutes to address the council this evening. Our discussion item this evening is regarding what has been titled the community safety and due process resolution. Our assistant city manager, Alda Huerta, will provide the staff report.

Excuse me, mayor. I have two questions. May I ask? Sure. Um, one, I I'm new to this procedure of giving people numbers to speak. I just wanted to confirm with you and with city staff. Will we be hearing people's names before they come to speak? Yes. Okay, that's great. And then also, I I see we're honored to have here um a priest from our local Catholic church. At times historically, we have had a prayer before the meeting and I would like to invite the father to say a prayer if that is all right with you. Mayor,

I would join you in that invitation. Father, would you like to give us an invitation? Please, we'd be honored. Lord Jesus, we entrust our hearts, our minds, and spirits in this meeting in which we come together to work together for the common good. May you, Lord, in your grace and love, may bring us together as a city that prospers, that embraces, a city that is great for the people who live here. May you bless our public officers and all of us here that our dialogues and proposals may be heard that the outcome of this meeting be full of grace and the resolution may be according to your will. May you bless us all to the grace of your holy spirit. May we be blessed today by the glory of this nation under God. You the founder foundation of all of us. We trust this in the name of Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Amen. Thank you. Okay. Uh we will at this time receive the staff report from our assistant city manager Aldo Huerta.

Thank you, mayor. Good evening, mayor, deputy mayor, members of the city council. Again, my name is Alerta, assistant city manager. Tonight, I will be providing a report on a proposed community safety and due process resolution. As a background on this item, at the September 23rd, 2025 city council meeting at the request of council member Contras, the city council discussed a proposal to address issues related to community safety and due process. This discussion was framed around an exhibit to the agenda report which outlined several items for the city council's consideration. At the completion of the discussion, staff were directed to prepare a resolution to include items 1 through 4 from the exhibit that was presented. Items 1 through 4 included the following. The city will actively disseminate know your rights information and will create a web page on the city's official website detailing information and critical information links to other know your rights information. Number two, prohibit federal law enforcement personnel from immigration enforcement in non-public areas of city-owned or city controlled properties without a judicial warrant. Number three, future city contracts to include clauses prohibiting contractors from disclosing sensitive personal or non-public information to federal immigration enforcement agencies unless otherwise required by state and federal law. And number four, sensitive or personal data collected by the city will not be shared with immigration enforcement agencies directly or indirectly unless otherwise required by state and federal law. I will expand on each item on the next few slides. Know your rights campaign. The city does not currently maintain know your rights information on our website. At the city

council's direction, staff can develop and post know your rights information on Vista's websites. Some recent examples of this information have been posted by other local jurisdictions including the cities of Oceanside and Insanas. Some of the information posted, for example, are links to the California Department of Justice resources, County of San Diego Office of Immigrant and Refugee Refugee Affairs, your rights under California and federal law overview, free lowcost legal help, local, county, and school resources, etc. Access to nonpublic areas and city facilities. Access to non-public areas and city facilities is subject to our administrative policy number 13-4 which in which is included in your agenda packet as exhibit 3. Administrative policies generally address administrative duties under the authority of the city manager. Policy 13-4 was created shortly after completion of the current civic center to address internal security and the issuance of security badges to city employees. As stated in the policy, any visitors or non- city employees requesting access to city facilities must be escorted by a city employee into areas that are not publicly accessible. Such access is subject to the approval of the department director responsible for such facility and ultimately the city manager. Moreover, California Government Code section 7285.1A, part of the California Immigrant Worker Protection Act, already prevents the city from providing federal immigration agents from accessing non-public areas of city-owned or city controlled property. The code states, "Except as otherwise required by federal law, an employer or person acting on behalf of the employer shall not provide voluntary

consent to an immigration enforcement agent to enter any non-public areas of a place of labor. This section does not apply if the immigration enforcement agent provides a judicial warrant. This code section applies to both private and public employers. City contracts and agreements. The city standard agreement template does not currently include clauses specifically prohibiting contractors from disclosing sensitive personal or non-public information to federal immigration enforcement agencies. The city expects all contractors to adhere to state and federal law regarding non-public or private information collected and distributed in relation to city procured or city sponsored services. This is because city contract templates already require that all persons entering into a contract with the city agree to follow all applicable federal and state laws. City contract templates already include the following verbiage. contractor agrees to comply with title seven of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended the California Fair Employment Practices Act, the Americans with Disability Act of 1990, any other applicable federal and state laws and regulations here and after enacted. Should the resolution under consideration be approved by the city council, the city attorney would review all future contracts and agreements to incorporate appropriate additional language. Sensitive or personal data collected by the city. Sensitive and personal information collected by the city is currently protected under the California Constitution. Article 1, section one of the California Constitution holds all people are by nature entitled to a right to privacy. Any breach of this

inalienable right could subject the city to liability and damages as the state has affirmed that all persons have a right to enforce their right of privacy in a court of law. If anyone were to try to obtain sensitive or personal information pursuant to the public records act, the city already has a practice of invoking government code section 6254C to exempt from disclosure any sensitive or personal information. Accordingly, the city has already had a long-standing practice of not sharing any sensitive or personal information with any outside agency or entity unless otherwise required by state law, federal law, or court order. The resolution under consideration by the city council would not change the city's practices with respect to protecting sensitive and personal information. There is no direct fiscal impact associated with this discussion item. Additional staff time may be required to update policies, procedures, and/or agreements as stated herein. All of the information presented in this agenda report was also um which was also provided in Spanish. This concludes the report. Staff are available to answer any questions at this time.

Any questions from the council or comments or statements before we take uh comment from the public? No. Okay. Then we will uh take numbers 1 through 10. Everybody has three minutes. So that ought to take us approximately 30 minutes. So we will begin with um Maria Lenic I think it is. I apologize if I've mispronounced your name. Uh we will then hear from Patricia Madreon or Mandreon. And then we'll hear from Valerie Looper. If you heard your name called, would you please go ahead and come over here? Uh, one of the things we prefer not to do tonight is wait for people to find their way out of their seats and come down. So, we'd like you if you heard your name called, if you could go ahead and be ready. So, that's numbers one, two, and three. Uh, Kathy, did everybody was were they all made aware of their speaker number?

Yes. Okay. Very good. And if you want to reintroduce yourselves, uh, if I've mispronounced your name, please do that. Um, Miss Lynch, is that right? Welcome.

Thank you. Good afternoon everyone. Um my name is Maria Lensik. I'm here um with opposing uh the sanctuary cities. Just um I want to make sure that this policy violates federal immigration law and protects criminals aliens at expenses of US citizens. Also this is limits and denied is cooperating with the national government in enforcing immigration law. So um also um federal um immigration will be uh it won't be having access with ice or well it won't be connection with them. So also the san sanctuary cities improve the safety or the indocument indocumented immigrants to report crimes, access to health care, social services, also education or even free rent or housing. Also provides um a life without fear of deportation. Um also um the um let me see I have many points also we have a dozens of states and hundreds of cities across the United States. They are considerate sanctuaries reflecting a movement and prioritizing local safety and humanist concern over federal immigration enforance informance priorities. I want to make sure that we look uh to the cities that we they already sanctuaries like New York City, Illinois, Colorado, Washington, Oregon,

New Jersey, Connecticut and Washington DC. I wanted to reflect and see how they are doing that why we we don't become like them. I want uh people to realize um the immigration is um is a privilege. the every every people can do by law but we have to do it uh in order to become to come to this beautiful country. So um just want to say that uh I I I want I want Vista to remain how it is and and you know enforce the law. Thank you so much. And ladies and gentlemen, [applause] ladies and gentlemen, our municipal ordinance requires that you not applaud, cheer, or make any other outburst of noise. Again, like we're in a courtroom. Uh you're asked to contain all uh creation of noise. It's my job. I've been charged by the municipal code as the presiding officer to enforce that municipal ordinance. So, I'm required to ask you not to applaud. So, if you would please observe our municipal ordinance. Uh, that way we uh maintain order in the meeting. Next, we're going to hear from Patricia Mandreon, followed by Valerie Luber, followed by Hana Valentine. Patricia Mandreon. Good evening, council members. Patricia Mandreon, regional policy manager for Alliance San Diego. We convene the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium, a coalition of 50 organizations in San Diego County that advocate for the human and civil right rights of immigrants and refugees in our region. I'm here to urge you to strengthen and

pass the proposed community safety and due process resolution. Community and public safety is built on trust. And right now, that trust is being eroded by the increase in aggressive, violent, and often lawless actions by masked federal agents in Vista and around our region. Residents are living in fear that seeking help, reporting a crime, or even walking down the street could expose them to federal enforcement, detention, and deportation. This fear is being felt by all, regardless of immigration status, and contributes to distrust in all law enforcement. And when that trust breaks, our entire community becomes less safe. A Cal Matters article from today warns that a new ICE leadership drawn from Border Patrol is likely to escalate violence and reduce accountability even further. Starting last week, green card applicants are being detained during their final interview for legal permanent status at USCIS. These escalations and risks make this these local policy protections not only important but urgent. Strengthening this resolution is about aligning Vista with state law which makes clear that local resources cannot be used for immigration enforcement. The current draft gestures towards those protections but it stops short. We urge the city to explicitly state that Vista's personnel, resources, and information will not be used in ways that undermine undermine state law or put residents at risk.

We also urge you to update the language. The current administration is deploying the FBI, IRS, DEA, National Guard, and other federal [clears throat] agencies to carry out immigration arrests and surveillance. For this reason, we ask you to replace immigration enforcement agencies with federal law enforcement agencies. Tonight, I urge the council to show leadership, clarity, and courage, strengthen, and pass this resolution. Tell every person and visitor in Vista that they matter. Thank you.

Valerie Looper, followed by Hana Valentine, followed by Zoa Ramos. Thank you for allowing me to speak. I appreciate it very much. I also appreciate the process. Uh I'm confused because the report says that the proposed language is not going to have any effect. So I have to wonder why in the world you'd consider voting on it. That's a that's a kind of a problem. The next thing is that the speaker just ahead of me made some very serious allegations about the way that our immigration enforcement is being handled. And I've heard some of this and I think that if we're going to work on changing the way we cooperate with the federal government, then we need to have some facts in place. And in particular, we need to know the names of people that have been abused because uh we've had several situations where people have been placed in great fear of their situation, thinking that even if they are American citizens, they're going to get deported. I've read this as an allegation and I've heard about violence. So, if we're going to deal with something like that, if we're going to treat it, if we have that kind of serious uh situation, then we must deal with it. And if that's not quite the case, we need to know. That's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you. Hana Valentine, followed by Zola Ramos, followed by number six, Marlene Iberan. Hi, as a as a US citizen, a member of St. Francis Fisi, and a teacher, I invite you to be the voice for the voiceless and to show empathy and compassion for the immigrant families in our community. Nobody should face discrimination based on skin color. and children should not live with fear, stress and anxiety due to family separation. I am in favor of the resolution because immigrants provide economic benefits by filling in labor labor gaps. Also, on the other hand, if ICE is allowed to work in an irresponsible way, fear will make people spend less money on goods and services affecting local businesses and in turn impact tax revenues. Therefore, members of the city council and mayor, please take responsible decisions today and vote in favor of the resolution for community safety and due process. Ano?

Thank you. Za Ramos followed by Marlene Iberan. Followed by number seven, Lordis Farheart. fundamental Gracias.

Gracias. Marlene Ibaran followed by Lordis Farheart followed by Himeme Romo.

Good afternoon, Vista City Council members. My name is Marlene and I attend Rancho Wav Vista High School. First and foremost, thank you council member Karina Contas for this resolution try uh in order to protect immigrant and Latino neighborhoods of Vista. On behalf of my peers, I would like to represent those who are too scared to speak out their experiences of ICE impacting their lives as well as the 68% of Latinos in my school that are deeply affected by ICE and the current administration. As for me, I am first generation and I grew up without a parental father since I had taken my dad when I was only four years old. Many of you have children whom you care for and look after every single day. I'm not asking for your sympathy, but I'm asking for you to imagine yourself being torn from your loved ones because you have brown skin or because you look like the 68% of the students at my school. Although you can try to imagine it and although you'll never feel it, it's a reality for people every day. My question is how will ICE know who is an illegal immigrant so-called and who isn't? The way the current administration deport is deporting people isn't by having judicial warrants but it's it's going based off racism and ICE is choosing who they want to pull over based on someone's looks or even cars. Why is it when people are being stopped by ICE aren't the ones driving a luxury car? It's those who drive old trucks loaded with landscaping equipment or construction equipment. This is just one of the many forms of racial profiling which is completely unconstitutional and illegal since it violates the fourth amendment, the 14th amendment and the fifth amendment that guarantees that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. The constitution also um guarantees that due process rights to all persons, not just citizens. This means non-citizens, including undocumented immigrants, are entitled to fair treatment under the law. My hope is to see human rights being respected and for people to stop being ripped off the streets just because they are brown. At

the end of the day, we all bleed the same color. And I hope the city of Vista allows everyone regardless of color and feels and status feel safe and welcome in this diverse community. Thank you. Lordis Farheart followed by Hime Romo followed by number nine LS Godina.

Good evening Mayor Council members. My name is Lordes Farheart. I'm a parishioner at St. Francis Catholic Church in Vista and a member of San Diego Organizing Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit, multithnic, multifaith organization. We strongly support the community safety and due process resolution and urge the city council to vote yes. Yes, should be your vote tonight because as leaders of the city of Vista, you took an oath to take care, protect and uphold the constitutional rights of everyone. We cannot take a blind eye in what is happening around us. People get taken, detained without a warrant from their homes, place of work, in the streets, in schools. These actions create fear, anxiety, trauma, especially to the children. A lot of businesses get disrupted as well. It's easy to blame the immigrants and the vulnerable people to one's polit political agenda. But you as council members, leaders should use your power to help in finding solutions to the old and broken immigration law. Our American values of justice and fairness only stand strong when we have one system of justice for everyone. If one group can be denied due process, none of us, whether you're American citizen or what you're standing in this country, will be safe only to enjoy the rights that America stands for if we have due process. Thank you.

Hi, Mayor Romo followed by L. Gordina followed by Elena B number 10.

Good evening. Reverend Dr. Himero, a minister for healing and healthy environments. And I work with people in hospice and one of the leading uh diagnosis is failure to thrive. And when I think of a community or society, what leads to failure to thriving would be fear and scapegoating and attacking the vulnerable. A few days ago, last week, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops voted 216 in favor and five against, three abstain, to have this document to support those who are most vulnerable, the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the stranger. In the name of the one who became poor for our sake, we see the good Samaritan who lifts us from the dust. We see the one who is found in the least of these. And the command is to love as he has loved us. They write in support of our immigrant brothers and sisters and other Catholics and others will speak to this directly, but from St. Thomas Moore, the pastor writes that the community safety and due process resolution seeks to build trust with immigrant community members and minimize harm to Vista communities from immigration raids and operations. The resolution will implement several ways to protect community members from detention, deportation, and so on. From St. Patrick's Church in Carlsbad, because many members come from Vista, this issue transcends politics. It's a matter of justice, of shared humanity, and faithfulness to our deepest values. We pray that you will accept this due

process and safety resolution. From the Tri City Islamic Center board president, the Muslim community has often faced serious discrimination in both race and faith and more recently been singled out for their advocacy and human rights. They also see the connection that if some are endangered, all are connection and ask us to support this. And from Pilgrim Church in Carlsbad and from the minister at Palomar Unarian Universalist Church in Vista, we see that this is transcending local issues and we come from various spiritual traditions to protect those who are being targeted and defamed. We hope you will find it in your hearts to leave aside the rhetoric that demonizes our brothers and sisters and to vote to implement the due process in public safety. Because what helps communities thrive is respect and solidarity and protection for those who are most vulnerable. Thank you.

L Godina followed by Elena B followed by Josh Ko's number 11.

Hello, my name is Loose. I'm from St. Francis Church. I'm here to show my support for the community safety and due process resolution. I'm from northern San Diego County area. I was actually born in Tri City Hospital. So, I am a US citizen and when I was looking for a home, I decided to buy in Vista. I'd like our city to show that they are willing to protect and create a safe place for all the people who like me chose to live in Vista. With the increase in immigration enforcement operations, people like me are not feeling safe. I want to feel safe when I walk around town. I worked as a federal employee previously and retired after 30 years. I'm familiar with what is required of federal employees. They need to follow the law and proper procedures. From what I've seen, some of those im enforcement operations are not following the procedures that they're required to or the law. And this resolution reinforces with all the Vista residents have the right to due process and dignity and respect. Please vote yes on this important local policy. Thank you. Elena B, followed by Josh Ko, followed by Vanessa Mendoza, who's number 12.

Good evening. My name is Elena and I I'm a member of St. Francis Church and San Diego Organizing Project. I'm here tonight in strong support of the Community Safety and Due Process resolution, and I urge you to vote yes. The Constitution of the United States was ratified and went into effect in 1788. The first three articles established the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary branches as our government. We can see that the constitution has been disabled. In his farewell address, President Jimmy Carter said that when he was leaving office, he was taking the only title in our democracy superior to that of the president. That is the title of citizen. It is our responsibility as citizens to make our constitution work at was it as it was intended to do. Thank you,

Josh. You know, we'll be hearing uh from numbers 11 through 20, Josh Ko, followed by Vanessa Mendoza, followed by Patty K. Evening, mayor and council members. Reverend Josh Ko, uh, associate minister at Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Carlsbad and resident of Vista. And I'm here again to stand with the most vulnerable in our community. This resolution, in my estimation, isn't breaking or obstructing any laws, but ensuring those laws are grounded in justice, fairness, and dignity to protect the common good, not just to justify fear or discrimination. I would just like to say that our moral measure as a city, person of faith or not, isn't measured by how we are actually treating those in power, but how you tonight get to use your power to potentially protect the most vulnerable in your community and in your city. So, I urge you to support this. Vote yes for Vista to be a city of compassion and courage and where justice isn't just a privilege, but it is a promise to everyone. Thanks.

I'll hear from Vanessa Mendoza, then Patty Kay, then Don Rutkoff.

Good evening, council members. My name is Vanessa and I'm a volunteer with the SDOP and also St. Francis Church. I can't believe we are finding ourselves at this moment again. A moment a moment that forces us to confront what kind of society we truly want to be. This is not just a policy debate or another procedural vote. This is a question of moral responsibility of whether we will stand by the principles we claim to uphold. At the heart of the is of this issue is something simple. Every human being deserves due process. Every person, no matter their race, no matter where they were born, deserves to be treated fairly under the law. These are not radical ideas. They are the very foundation of justice in this country. When we allow fear or prejudices to erode those principles for some, we risk weakening from them for all. Right now, families are living with constant crushing anxiety. Childrens are going to school wondering whether their parents will still be at home when they return. Wives and husbands are living each day with the fear that the person they love may be taken them without warning. These are not distant or abstract harms. These are real people experiencing real trauma right in our communities. So we ask you to pause and think about your own family. Think about the people you love the most. What would you do if you were living with this in this kind of uncertainty? If you don't know whether your spouse will be back through the door at the end of the workday. If your child asked you a question you couldn't answer, will you be here when I get home? How would you carry the weight? We cannot claim to

value family then are turn our backs on families in crisis. We cannot cannot speak of justice while allowing it. Uneven treatment under the law. And we can and we can cannot call ourselves a moral community if we're willing to ignore the suffering of our neighbors. Supporting this resolution is not just a political choice. It's a moral commitment. It is affirmation that fairness matters, that due process matters, and the dignity of every person matters. I urge you to vote with this with your conscience, vote with compassion, support community safety, and due process resolutions. Thank you. Patty K number 13 followed by Don Redco 14 followed by Christina Akabelli number 15. Good evening. I am a single white woman and I don't feel safe. Are you going to make resolutions to protect me or do I have to use my common sense to not go out at night alone to the beach, to the town, or walk to the pier? I choose to not do that. I choose to not be vulnerable. I am a Catholic and I don't agree with a lot of the things the church is enabling in this situation and we have a lot to do work to do within the Catholic Church. What I'm here for is to say that these resolutions are ineffective and probably not legal. They are the proponents of these resolutions are using the immigrant community and soaking fear within them. The

government, the federal government is enforcing the law. And who's most at risk when they do that? Our agents are most at risk if you see them being attacked right and left daily. These are not random episodes where the agents are going around picking up brownskinned people. They are targeted because they have the the intelligence, the background and the information. they where the illegal criminals are and that is who they are getting. For instance, if you've uh noticed in the news reports in the cities of Los Angeles, Charlotte recently last week, Chicago, this is who they're taking off the streets and would make me feel safer. In in Charlotte, the criminal records of those arrested included known gang membership, aggravated assaults, possession of dangerous weapon, felony lararseny assaults, hit and run, possession of stolen goods, shoplifting, DUI, and illegal re-entry after prior deportation. When they and if they come to Vista, is this the group of people that you want to protect? I mean, this is what you're doing. And quite frankly, I think in in such a thing, you're you're an accomplice to an illegal crime by doing that. I have a better idea. Why don't you make the uh community feel safer and more secure by the city cooperating with the homeland security and targeting

to get these criminals that I just read about and that you're out of your city and then your city will be safer. Thank you. Don Rudco 14 followed by Christina Aayakobelli 15 followed by Glenn Cooper 16.

Hello everybody. I would like to commend the people out front before the meeting started who were making a lot of noise and with a band and they were flying the American flag. Hallelujah. That's a hell of an improvement over flying the flag of the country that you escaped from, which is what I used to see. So, I see that some of the people here have learned a little bit of an appreciation for the United States and what the United States means. You fly the American flag, not the escapee flag. Now, with immigration, the other side of it is something called assimilation. You came here to become an American. You didn't come here to stay in fear of the aristocrat in Bolivia or in Mexico City or in Nigeria or in Vietnam that ruled your country with an iron fist. You came here to escape that. When you come here, you become an American. And I'll tell you a little thing about separating the children from the adults. I'm Jewish. In the 1880s and 1890s and 1900s, Jews were mercilessly persecuted in the Zars Russia and in Ukraine and Bellarus and Poland with the help unfortunately of the Eastern Orthodox Church. So what many Jewish people did, my grandparents and great-grandparents were among them. They sent their kids to Stanton Island to the Statue of Liberty. They sent their kids. My grandparents were this tall, five, six, seven siblings when they arrived at Ellis Island. They never saw their parents again. That was the motus operandi for the Jews in Europe, in central and eastern Europe and under the Zsar was to send the kids to the promised land of

the United States and get the hell away from the persecution of the tyrants in central and eastern Europe. And the kids came here, never saw their parents again. Tens of thousands of Jewish immigrants came here. My my parents, my father didn't even learn English until he went to first grade. He lived in an exclusively Jewish neighborhood. But the pro but the idea was you came here, you became an American. You go to school, you learn English, go to college, get a degree. My father got a degree. My uncle was a CPA and a vice president at Warner Brothers has spent his whole years working for Warner Brothers. So don't give me the Saab stories and 50 organizations. You have 50 organizations that are sucking up taxpayer money on immigration rights and immigration procedures and all this here in San Diego County. Well, you're doing a lousy job. Thank you.

Christina Akabelli number 15, Glenn Cooper 16, followed by Karina Cooper 17. Good evening, mayor, council members. My name is Christina Yakabelli. I'm a resident of Vista for 50 years. I am here tonight to respectfully ask for you to vote no on the community safety and due process resolution. I want to be very clear, Vista has never needed these kind of policies. Not once in 50 years that I have lived here has this type of crisis existed in our city. These proposals don't reflect our town's history, our needs, or our priorities. Item by item, this resolution creates problems that don't currently current currently exist. Number one, creating a city sponsored know your rights immigration page is unnecessary. Sends a message that VISA is shifting identity toward sanctuary style framework. That is not who we are and that is not what many residents want. Number two, prohibiting federal law enforcement from entering non-public city areas without a judicial warrant sounds simple, but in reality it restricts cooperation with federal agencies. This raises serious concerns about public safety, especially in city lo a city located 1 hour from the border. We should not be placing barriers between law enforcement agencies that work to keep our entire region safe. Number three, adding restrictions in future city contracts about what information can be shared with immigration enforcement creates a layer of complication and liability that Vista does not need. It inserts immigration policies into basic operations that should remain neutral and focused on serving the public. Number four, and finally, preventing the city from sharing certain data with federal immigration enforcement unless

required by law again moves VISTA towards policies that resemble sanctuary protection. This does not enhance safety for longtime residents. It prioritizes shielding individuals who are not following immigration law over the border safety concerns of our community. Vista has never operated this way. It has never needed to. And I speak with many other residents and I can tell you confidently that a large portion of our community does not support this direction. We do not want the city inching towards a sanctuary policy. We want stability, safety, and common sense leadership. Not unnecessary political statements that divide the community and create more confusion for law enforcement. I'm asking you to consider the long-term impact. Once these are passed, they are extremely difficult to reverse. And for what benefit, what problem are we actually solving? Please vote no. Keep Vista focused on real issues and real needs, not political experience. Thank you.

Glenn Cooper, 16, followed by Karina Cooper, 17, followed by Deacon Wayne Hefner, 7 18.

Uh, thank you, John, and council members for allowing me to speak. Um, I'm a retired uh veteran of the United States Marine Corps. I served my country against foreign and domestic threats uh to protect our citizens. I do not want to this uh city to become a sanctuary city for foreigners who are not here legally. If you said you are afraid of violence from ICE agents, what about the police who arrest criminals? They have violence when they are arrested. So it is with the ICE agents have violence because the legal foreigners, they resist. They're not uh they're being violent. If you run, it's because you're guilty. If you're innocent, then you will not run. Let our country enforce our laws to protect the American people of our country. If you are afraid, then self-epport and then you can come back legally. Thank you.

Karina Cooper followed by Wayne Hefner, 18 followed by Ron Arnold, 19. [clears throat] Do we have Karina Cooper? No. Okay. Uh Wayne Hefner, 18, it's your turn. Followed by Ron Arnold, followed by Kenneth Sunniga at 20. Mayor Franklin and distinguished members of the council. [snorts] And ladies and gentlemen, immigration is not just a status of citizen or non-citizen. It is who we are as a country because we are a nation of immigrants. Nearly all of us here that have whether have arrived to different parts of the world ourselves or from past generations have come here seeking hope and a better life. From those who came from Europe through Ellis Island or those who are seeking refuge from war torn countries that are in conflict. Asylum through the United States border has always been a central part of who we are as an living the American way of life. and just thought those that have already established themselves here that while others need to be ignored, most of the people who have been waiting for their legal status are just looking to make an honest living and raised their families like all of us. Making us a world a better place for our children than they were when they were young. I sometimes wonder what kind of a country my grandchildren their generation will inherit having 10 gen grand grandchildren where are we going as a country [snorts] and I sometimes wonder because this is not a political issue it's not a Catholic or Christian issue not a religious one but a human one and we need to not forget that then

we risk the risk the losing ing the very soul of the nation that we claim to protect or be a part of. As a nation, we have always been divided on issues and that is good because we get to hear both sides. But also as a nation, we are called to be a just and equal nation to give the opportunity to all to be a part of this nation which is united. United means to come together as one. Some say they want to have those who came in here illegally just come in the right way. So if that is the case then we should be able to make the process for those who want to be a part of this nation through a process that while be is manageable that they can make it but not in years of waiting not at the expense of even trying to buy their freedom as it is done in some ways but a chance for everyone to live the American dream of citizenship in this great country. So I ask you to vote yes on this resolution so to give everyone a chance to be proud to be an American. Thank you.

Ron Arnold 19 followed by Kenneth Zuniga 20 followed by Chris Mas 21.

Good evening Mayor Franklin, honorable council members and members of uh the Vista community. My name is Deacon Ron Arnold. I'm from St. Francis of the CC Catholic Church here in Vista. And uh as I've listened tonight to the different perspectives and what is going on in the minds of uh my neighbors as I am been in Vista since 1971. Um I'm really relieved that my calling is to be a person who takes care of other people, a servant. And what I mean by that is my job is not to worry about the policies of Vista and how to help my fellow man on this level. And for that I appreciate your efforts. Whether we agree or not is really not the point. The fact that you're here and we have some redress is commendable. But all I know is that my job, my responsibility is for the person sitting next to me. And as a deacon, I do a lot of funerals. I do a lot of counseling. I do a lot of home visits. I work with every kind of imaginable problem there is. But it's on an individual level. And I want to assure you when you work with people, their problems are not solved by resolutions. They're solved by being a good neighbor. They're solved by looking at them with compassion and empathy and then standing with them. Whether you agree with them politically or not is not the point. The point is you may be the only person they have that they can rely on. The only person that they know to call

and what the Lord has put on my heart is he wanted me to be that person. I have to stand with people who are imperfect. I have to stand with people who maybe have it wrong politically, but the Lord has put it on my heart that I'm to help them. And my friends here tonight, fellow Vistans, I've been here since 71. I was a principal for 32 years, a teacher for 10 years. I take those people that God puts in my path, and I know you do, too. And I know by working together as people of goodwill, we can meet the needs of a larger community. Not just the needs of a minority community, but of a larger community. And by doing so, we will meet the needs of all of us. Thank you for listening.

Thank you. Uh Kenneth Zuniga 20 followed by Chris Mas 21 followed by Berto Gonzalez 22.

Hi. Okay. So today uh we need to take a stand not just against the visible cruelty of our immigration raids but against the hidden profit driven infrastructure that makes them possible. While the entire resolution is necessary and vital the very important sections both C and D which are C and D. This targets two core pillars of modern surveillance state. The common uh the capturing of data and the outsourcing of the state violence to private capital. In the 21st century, data is a weapon, right? In the hands of a deportation force, data is a digital warrant. It is a tool used to track, profile, and tear families apart. When we collect this data to provide a service to our city, we're entering into a social contract with our residents. [clears throat] To then potentially hand that data over to ICE or the federal government is a profound betrayal. It transforms our public service into a trap. It makes the local government an arm of the federal deportation machine. By refusing to allow our data to be shared, we are declaring that the personal information our residents have will not be commodified and rep weaponize them against them. This resolution states that our future city contracts will prohibit contractors from disclosing sensitive information to immigration enforcement and federal government. Why is this so crucial? Because corporations like Palunteer are being paid hundreds of millions of dollars to build a database and algorithm that targets and targets our neighbors and tracks everyone within the United States. The book 1984 was supposed to be non-fiction, not reality. Palunteer is one of the architects of this digital draget that is currently happening that we have seen across the country. But it's not just tech giants. It's the security firm hired to guard a public building. It's the private agency running a social program. They all have our data and under the current system, they are free to sell it or hand it over to ICE to curry favor or secure more contracts. When we attach this clause to our city contracts, we are using our

community's collective power as leverage. We are drawing a line in the sand for every corporation or public uh public service that wants to pro uh do business with the people of the city. If you want our public funds, you must abide by our public values. You cannot profit from us while you conspire to destroy this community. This is a concrete step towards dismantling a public private surveillance states. Both of these sections C and D together represent a holistic strategy. Protect the data we hold and block the flow of data from those we hire. This is how we build solidarity within the community. So, please pass this resolution and send a clear message in our city alongside the undocumented community. We must protect our residents and we will never have their data sold to the highest bidder. Thank you.

Chris Masias, 21 followed by Berto Gonzalez, 22, followed by Greg Jackson, 23. Hello, my name is Christopher MSAS. I am deathly afraid. They say one of people's top fear is speaking in public. Yet here I am speaking in public to address the support of my resolution of this resolution. To me, in my understanding and the things it sets to accomplish, they're very easy slam dunks. [snorts] In fact, the report even indicates that there's no direct cost to uh the government. So number one, to actively disseminate know your rights. Who would be against a more enlightened and informed constituency? I I know I I'm for that. Uh there's a lot of people that I think could could benefit from that. items two, three, and four actually already exist whether it be in the federal constitution or in the state constitution. How I see it, I guess you can say we're just of reaffirming the boundaries and our commitment to the dignity and safety of our community members. I come to you as a father, as a citizen, as a sister or a brother, cousin, and maybe someone's neighbor. I don't know what I can say that hasn't been said already. I can just give my my voice because I know there are others

who are either too afraid or just unaware of what is in front of them. And I have to say I strongly support coming together as a community and using our collective voice for the betterment of one another. It doesn't matter if you're here legally or not. What matters is you're a person. You're a human being. And I think as a human being, we all deserve dignity and respect. Thank you. Berto Gonzalez, 22. And we're on block number uh 20 through 30 right now. Uh, Berto Gonzalez 22, Greg Jackson 23, Armen Kurtian 24.

Yes, sir. I'm uh vehemently opposed to this uh sanctuary city. If you come to our country without being invited, you've broken a law. You're subject to being arrested and deported. If I were to drink be drink driving, I would I'm a father of two divorced. I would be arrested, taken away from my family because I broke the law. It's it's pretty clear that if you come here illegally, then you not don't have a high regard for laws and legally. So that that's a small step to know who knows what else you'll do. So anyways, I want to conserve this country. I want my kids to be have work and to know what America is all about. It's law and order and not emotion. I don't want to live life uh with emotional whims. We need to be logical, rational, and reasonable. America first.

Okay. Greg Jackson, 23, followed by Armen Curian, 24, followed by Briana Valenu, number 25.

Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight and to Mr. O'Donnell and Mr. Franklin that I spoke to over the phone to help me understand where I feel. Um, I'm a legal immigrant to this country of which I'm proud and I feel blessed. Uh, I emphasize legal. My experience is that these resolutions are targeted at immigration and enforcement of immigration policies. They're not emphasizing general civil liberties and due process. They are developed to inhibit immigration enforcement. and immigration is a federal jurisdiction. Over the last four years, due to zero enforcement of our laws at the border, we now have a state of emergency. The influx of illegal immigrants, some estimate at 20 million, is damaging to our country and endangering our citizens. They all broke our laws by entering our company, our country illegally. None of these people were vetted and we have no idea where many of them are now. While many are good people, many are not. They are placing a huge burden on the taxpayer, on schools, and endangering our citizens through drug trafficking, human trafficking, and other crimes. They're putting downward pressure on wages, particularly impacting our lower wage earners. and have contributed to the housing affordability crisis. Many legal citizens like my two Gen Z sons can't afford to buy their first home. In fact, the average age of the firsttime home buyer has gone from nu 33 in 2021 to 40 in 2025.

I believe these people don't have a right to be in our country. They broke the law coming here and they tried to jump the line. If they would like to live here, they should go home and come back through the legal process. I believe that all levels of law enforcement, all levels of government and judiciary should be working hard uh hand in hand to project the ci citizens of this country, not hampering the work of other groups. Let's face it, this is all an attempt to hamper federal immigration enforcement. It is back to front to me. Citizens should be the number one focus of everyone in this room, not those that knowingly broke the laws. If this is just a restatement of the law, it is an unnecessary waste of time and money. If it's modifying the law, I don't agree with it. Either way, my vote is no. Thank you.

Armen Kurtian 24, followed by Briana Valenue, 25, followed by Diana Cohen, 26. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the city council, my mother, grandfather, grandmother, father-in-law, aunts, uncles, cousins, many of them came to this country to become what is known as an American citizen. Two beautiful words put together. That is fantastic. Immigrants enrich us. There's no question about that. Sadly, we are here about this policy which is dishonest to its core. ostensibly here for public safety, which does the exact opposite. As this philosophy permeated our governments local through the federal level over the last 30 years, and more people came to this country illegally, something really terrible and awful started to happen. People started to die. They started to die in greater and greater numbers, peaking last year. Now, it's impossible to know exactly what the number is, but based on several estimates, between 10 and 80,000 people died at the US border trying to cross this country illegally. To say nothing of those who died or were assaulted or raped or I can't even possibly imagine what on the way up here, the Darian Gap in Panama, some of the most dangerous territory on earth. Six months of the first part of last year, 60 people died. It's a lawless area. That's what the Panameanians said. That's who they recovered. How many more actually passed away while it was there? This due process policy, federal law enforcement has taken out a lot of very, very violent criminals out of this country. Granted, it is a small portion of the immigrant community. But where is the equity for the victims of those crimes, many of whom were illegal themselves or the future victims of these crimes? 50 years ago, men and women came home from Vietnam wearing a uniform and because people disagreed with their policy, they were attacked.

They were stuff was thrown at them. They were egged. Nowadays, the same thing is happening to federal law enforcement. You can't watch the news for more than an hour without seeing more federal law enforcement attacked, including attempted murder at times. We've learned absolutely nothing. Let's be very, very clear. Ever since this nation was founded, we are a nation of immigrants. And those who were not immigrants were children of immigrants. because this is the greatest country on the face of the earth. And frankly, I'm tired of seeing the immigrant community lied to and brought here under false pretenses simply because of a political philosophy that is failing them. You want real change? This is not real change. You want to see more people live in this country from other countries? I do. Absolutely. The policy is busted. It's slow. Took my grandmother 17 years. You want real change? Write your congressman or congresswoman. Have them do real immigration reform. Expand the number of people who can come to this country and let's make this country great. Thank you.

Briana Valenue, 25 followed by Diana Cohen, 26, followed by Alan Crestik, 27.

Good evening, city council members. On my name is Brianna Valenuela. On behalf of the public policy club at Rancho Bonana Vista High School, we are here to express our concerns towards the city, the the community safety and due process resolution. As members of a diverse community, we experience the impacts that immigration and customs enforcement has created. We see firsthand the intense fear of immigrants who are torn apart from loved ones despite being able to justify their innocence. Many innocent citizens in the city of Vista are afraid to step outdoors due to the possibility of being racially profiled and even with legal documentation of ICE agents. An example of this fear is from a personal family member sending their own children to get groceries or supplies for them due to the amount of fear they have of ICE arresting them. It is stated in the constitution that we are given the right to due process, protection from unreasonable searches and have equal protection of the laws. Unfortunately, right now, this is not the case with this problem. There have been many videos online where ICE has invaded our community and is arresting people with a legal criminal warrant. It is well known these rights are granted to us by the fourth, fifth, and the 14th amendment. ICE agents continuing to capture anyone without due process is unconstitutional. By allowing the city of Vista to cooperate and allow ICE agents to detain citizens without probable cause is simply unlawful and is ruining our community as a city. [snorts] [clears throat]

It is not allowed for law enforcement to invade without a criminal warrant. Even if you are an American citizen or not, they are not obligated by law to have a warrant before an arrest of such kind. So why should ICE be given the power to detain without a probable cause? We want our community of Vista to be aware of this problem. We are facing and to bring awareness that ICE should not be given the power to control. Most of us as students who witness and experience these impacts around us, we and others from the community want to feel safe without having to live in fear of being racially profiled on the way how we on the way we look. Thank you.

Thank you. Diana Cohen, 26, followed by Alan Crestik, 27, followed by Richard Newton, 28.

Good evening, council members. My name is Diana Cohen. I have the privilege of serving as general counsel at Dr. Bronner, a proud business member of the Vista community. Dr. Bronner employs hundreds of local residents. We have expanded our footprint in the V Vista business park area and have had a tangible impact on the local community by actively supporting a multitude of programs including the Vista House, the Vista, the city of Vista safe parking program and humanity showers just to name a few. I'm here tonight to speak in strong support of the community safety and due process resolution with a few important amendments. I want to begin with the fundamental principle. Due process is the backbone of our constitutional system. It is a guarantee that government at every level must act fairly, transparently, and according to established rules before it interferes with a person's life or liberty. Due process shapes how safe people feel moving through their community, how secure businesses feel operating here, and how confident residents feel that their city is acting in their best interest. Right now, for many people, that confidence is slipping. Some of our employees have shared that they are afraid to come to work because they don't know who might be waiting for them around the corner. Parents are afraid to send their children to school because of raids on or near school grounds, including elementary schools. And many are even hesitant to worship at their local churches, worried that simply gathering with their community would make them a target. And speaking personally for a moment, I myself do not entirely feel safe because seemingly innocuous questions like, "Where are you from? Where were you born?" Questions which used to be harmless now feel threatening. They feel loaded. They feel like an assessment of where whether I'll be singled out or my family might be at risk because of how we look. I share

this because due process is fundamentally about preventing government action that is arbitrary, discriminator discriminatory or based on assumptions rather than risk. And when even a simple question begins to feel like a test of belonging, that is a sign that those protections are slipping. Every Vista resident deserves dignity, fairness, and due process. These rights are not political. They are fundamental. A resolution like this should not even be necessary. Yet, here we are. We are at an important inflection point between choosing a community of safety built on trust between residents and local government or eroding that trust for fear of aggressive violent actions by mass unidentified federal agents. This resolution is a step towards restoring that trust. It sets guidelines for how the city engages with federal law enforcement and ensures that residents are not targeted based on who they are. So I urge this council to adopt the resolution because at Dr. Bronner's we want every employee to walk through the door.

Alan Carestic 27 followed by I apologize your time is up. Alan Carstic 27 followed by Richard Newton 28 followed by Gail Martin 29.

Woke up this morning first thing I saw on TV borders Tom Holman said on the news this morning that they are going to flood the zone on sanctuary cities. And as uh this is not a sanctuary cities as far as I'm concerned right now but sanctuary cities being a sanctuary city does not stop immigration enforcement from coming to your city. It only intensifies them to invade your city. Majority of blue city sanctuary cities are broke. Just look at San Diego with the mayor of Todd Gloria with a $250 million budget deficit despite bringing a record tax revenue of 2.1 billion. Uh and and here in Vista, the mayor of Vista has a 9.5 million surplus in our city. Thank you, mayor, for keeping us solvent. Uh, and I have I have a question for the Democrats uh over the recent concern of the Epstein files, but why not of the 320,000 unaccompanied migrant children they lost during the Biden administration? What about that? What's up? You guys aren't concerned about the immigrant children that are being sexslaved and labor slaved or whatever that who knows what's going on with poor kids. 320,000 of them. Nothing.

Okay, everybody, please everybody please hold your comments from the audience. Let's all let's all be respectful. That means everybody gets an opportunity to speak. Please don't speak when it's not your turn. Richard Newton 28, Gail Martin 29, and then Dwayne Sigman number 30.

Mayor Franklin, members of the council and the public. Sanctuary policy has two main aspects. One, the allocation of taxpayer resources to benefit illegal aliens. and two, the obstruction of federal enforcement uh of immigration laws. This describes the community safety and due process resolution, which is simply sanctuary under another name. Immigrants may be good or bad, but that is not the point. The rule of law applies to both good and bad people. Put another way, being good does not put somebody above the law, something I think all rational people would agree to. Yet, Democrats now want to make foreign nationals who are here illegally above the law. What are you thinking, Councilman O'Donnell? You portray yourself as a moderate, yet voted for this, in effect, making a policy statement that our laws don't matter. That hardly sounds like a moderate to me. You swore an oath to uphold the laws. You need to reverse your position tonight if you are truly a moderate. Immigrants may be good or bad for America, but that is also irrelevant to us tonight. Article one of the United States Constitution gives Congress the sole and plenary authority to set immigration levels. Debate on the merits of immigration belongs to Congress alone and certainly not local city officials. It is extremely arrogant and subversive to ignore federal laws. Hopefully, your sense of duty and patriotism will prevail and you will put America above politics or as Nancy Pelosi said, to put country over party. Historically, invasions have been unwanted incursions of people into the territory of those they vanquished in battle. Yet here there has been no battle, no military defeat. Instead, America has been betrayed by its elected officials who have violated their oath to the US Constitution and aided and embedded foreign nationals and foreign invaders who've acted and have acted as an advanced guard protecting the invaders from our nation's defenses. Treason is a pretty good description of what that would be, and it applies to

those of you who support this proposal. Regarding due process, let me state emphatically that the issue of due process belongs to the federal courts. Not not only does this proposal attempt to assurp authority from Congress, but also from the judiciary. It is extremely arrogant. Like it or not, that is our system of laws. Enforcement actions are taken and the courts review those actions and issues. Notice that nowhere in that description are city council members mentioned. Your job is to comply with the enforcement of these laws. remain true to your oath, know your place, and focus on the prefuncter duties of managing the city. Thank you.

Thank you. Gail Martin, uh 29. And then we'll uh hear from the block number 30 through 40. So, uh Gail Martin, number 29, Dwayne Sieman, number 30, and Adriana Escobedo number 31. Good evening. I'm Gail Martin. Um, my salutations to the mayor and to the council members and the public. America is a country that is founded on the rule of law and due process. Our laws say that everyone gets their day in court, their due process. Therefore, I strongly urge you to vote yes on the community safety and due process resolution. Thank you.

Dwayne Sigman 30 followed by Adriana Escoba 31 followed by Mgalli Sosa 32. I'd like to thank honorable John Franklin, mayor and city council member, honor student council members. Thank you very much for enforcing the law and allowing all these people to come in, no matter what their views are, to come in and have a freedom of America. We love our immigrants who come here legally, follow our laws, and take their turn and have the pursuit of happiness. That's what our nation is about. It's the United States together, united. That word united stands for something, but we have a division of what's going on in the higher with the leadership. We shouldn't even be here. We should be together. The city council should be together. Trump said, "We love immigrants, too." and offered to pay and get undocumented illegals a way home and get their go to their embassy in their country and start applying and to come legally. That's that's the way it works. We're a country of compassion and law and order. Children belong with their parents, not being taken away. Parents should not give their children to somebody to take them to America. Sex traffickers, drug cartel are constantly out there in the streets. As Christians, we love our neighbors. And Jesus said, "Follow the laws of the land." The laws of the land. Public safety risks. These policies har Oh, first of all, I I vote no on this here. I just want to make that so you understand how to vote tonight. Uh, okay. The preventing law enforcement from we we've already many many people

have already covered that. Let me jump ahead here. I'm a taxpayer and there's thousands and millions of other taxpayers spending a lot of money paying taxes to our country and the city of Vista gets a chunk of our tax money and we expect you city council members and mayor to spend our tax money appropriately enforcing the laws and things that need to take care of the public safety, police enforcement, fire department, roads and safety. Those are the things that you're responsible for. those immigrants to the United States, the legal way is because they they go to the embassy or they go to that country and they get their security clearance and not security clearance, their their medical cleared and they're uh able to financially take care of themselves. So, our tax money isn't spending for them. You city council members and mayor will vote tonight and your vote should be no. But was it vote yes? All the America American citizens of Vista that are hurt because of your vote. Yes. Will be remembered. The voters will remember and more importantly, God's going to remember how you take care of your citizens of Vista. Thank you very much.

Audriana Escobeda 31 followed by Maggal Sosa 32 followed by Karina Valdaspino number 33. Hello, I'm Adriana Scubido and I'm a proud daughter of an immigrant from my mutual Mexico which is my dad. He came here in the 50s, sacrificed a lot and worked hard for this country. And as of last week, he was racially profiled by somebody who was sorry, excuse me, who was being rude by telling him they were going to call ICE on him when he was just working and being a good citizen. But you know what? This country is a melting pot of people. Immigrants make this country great. But what ICE is doing, kidnapping people is not right and I don't agree with it. And everything with this administration is going on, I don't agree with none of that. And you know, people should not be harassed and racial profile. They should be able to be in this country and enjoy it without being harassed because I honestly Sorry, I'm just makes me upset with everything going on because I just want everything to be good and I want and I'm voting yes for this due process because because I just want them to be deserve to be happy in this country and not to be hurt or anything. And kids should be able to have their parents and not have to worry about them get taken away because it's not right. And I just wanted to say that I will continue to speak and do whatever I can and be for the immigrants because that's what I do

and I will continue to do what I can. And please think about the kids and then people that they're what they're doing this to that work hard for this country and they're they're nurses, they're doctors, they are cooks, they are everything that built this country that make it right. And for them to be kidnapped and taken, it isn't right. And I just want to say please think about it and voy on this because they deserve to be heard. And thank you.

Maggali Zosa 32 followed by Karina Valdispino 33 followed by Abriel Bush 34.

Hello, my name is Maggali Sosa. I'm here to speak in support of the community safety and due process resolution introduced by council member Contreras. Every member of our community deserves to live with peace and dignity. Every member of our community is entitled to their due process. And when you stand in the way of that, you abdicate your leadership, Mayor Franklin. You go to the news outlets and on social media and you grossly misrepresent this resolution. You have fermented division in our community. We heard the most vile and hateful rhetoric back in September. And though you may try to disavow it, you are also responsible for it. So I urge you to reflect and to support this resolution. Thank you.

Karina Valdespino, 33, followed by Abra Bush, 34, followed by Colleen Ashford, 35.

Good evening, everyone. Uh my name is Karina Valdespino, and I'm a VISTA resident here from district 2, Mr. Joff Fox's um district. Um, I'm also a community doula who proudly serves our North County community and families. And I'm here today um in strong support and of our safety and due process policy. And I urge the council to vote yes on this critical measure. This is very important to me as someone who sees the impact of deportation and anti-immigrant sentiment on the families that I personally work with and in my neighborhood. I hear the fear and the trauma that comes from losing a loved one to detention or deportation and I see it ripple through the entire neighborhoods here in Vista and it's not right. Detention and deportation has harmed all of Vista, not just those who are directly targeted. When any of me any me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me member of our community lives in fear of being detained or deported. It impacts all of us whether we choose to believe it or not. It creates lasting harm to children's mental health. It creates financial stability of when a parent or a family member who is often a main income earner. It leaves families and neighbors struggling to fill the void and to survive here in our own communities and neighborhoods. The communities also felt feeling vulnerable in their own city where they're supposed to be feeling safe. This issue goes beyond the individual families and stories that you might hear today which are often impactful and evoke a lot of emotions from all of us. It's also about the health and safety and prosperity of all of our Vista residents. So, I deeply envision the passing of this policy by our council will help ensure that Vista will remain a community where everyone feels safe, supported, and is able to participate fully in their communities and in public life. Thank you for your time and attention.

Abil Bush, 34, followed by Colleen Ashford, 35, followed by Martha Alvarado, 36. Good evening, council members of Vista. My name is Ail Bos and I am a 16-year-old student at Rancho Lenov Vista. Today, I stand here on this podium to declare you from the bottom of my heart the extreme importance of this revolution. We have a moral vigation to say yes to humanity and yes to your community. It is incredibly astonishing that I have to be here leaving school early, sacrificing my education to speak up for my people in attempt to bring justice protection in any way that possibly I can. It is astonishing to me that in this day of age, despite our advantages and technology, we still have to fight for morality. that today my mother or my brother will have to worry about being stopped for the rich color brown skin that they have to worry about things like probable cause and being thrown through the ground. Why I'm likely spared because I don't share that same color skin because this is an issue just an issue about immigration. It's also a racist mistreatment of individuals in our own community. The color of my skin should not determine my safety. Yes, we are different in densities, races, and nationalities. We are not any less. One of the things that makes us America so great is diversity. We are a country full of different people and different cultures, beliefs, and religions. You can go down the street and eat sushi or turn a corner to eat some orange chicken. Our differences should unite us because behind every name, face, or status is a person. A person with dreams and stories to be told. These people all deserve to be heard, not hunted because of they are all human. My people are not your enemy. They are your neighbors, friends, classmates, co-workers, and people who have do nothing but help our community. If this resolution does not

pass, you're contributing to the efforts to rip families apart and cause rifts in our community. Some people may justify identifications by saying, "I'm just following the law," or "It's not my business." But morality does not stop legality. It should be your business because it is. Doing what is right means for standing up for the innocent. It means acknowledging that immigrants are not strangers to our society because they are important part of society. They clean our schools, build our homes, care for our children, and sit beside us in a classrooms and workplaces. If we don't give due process, we are give away our our humanity. So I'm here pleading you instead of being a voice that is willing to expose your neighbor, be a voice that offends. Instead of being the reason someone loses safety, be this reason they feel safe because real strength is the people around you. Choose empathy over fear and choose to protect, not betray. Thank you for listening.

Thank you. Uh, for those who can hear me out in the lobby, if you could take your conversations outside the building because we can hear them here in the chambers. And for everybody inside the chamber, if you choose to leave the meeting, would you please take your conversations outside the building so that we don't have to have the speakers disrupted. Thank you very much. Uh, next we'll hear from Colleen Ashford, 35, followed by Martha Alvarado, 36, followed by Christine Clark, 37.

Hello, council members. My name is Colleen Ashford and I'm a proud Vista resident from district 3. I'm here tonight in strong support of the safety and due process policy and urge you to vote yes on this measure. Detention and deportation without due process harms everyone and the erosion of our constitutional rights should scare us all. Yes, including my fellow white people who don't seem to think this will land on our doorstep. Authoritarianism will impact us all. I am a bilingual speech language pathologist and I work with families in the early start program in their homes. That means I help the littlest Vistonians to communicate. These toddlers are your fellow American citizens. No matter what you think of their parents' choices, and I urge you to consider them. Every month I see the impact that ICE has had on the families worsen and the circle of fear widen. Federal agents now have the green light to racially profile and linguistically profile. No one feels safe. Not even those following the process and attending their immigration hearings. Not even those who are citizens. Some of my neighbors think this is all fear-mongering and false pretense, but this is really happening to our neighbors. This is justified. Some of my families cancel medical appointments and keep their children at home from school for a few days after ICE has been in our area. They are not bringing their children to the library or the park as often. They only go out for what's necessary, impacting the socialization and the mental health of our Vista children. I know mothers who are constantly monitoring Facebook groups so they can tell their husbands what roads to avoid on the way home. And I text them whenever I'm aware of federal presence. But the fear and trauma that result from constant surveillance and feeling helpless in the event of an interaction with federal agents is heartbreaking. We know these agents don't respect our constitutional rights fraying the very fabric of our democracy and what it means to be an America. I have the

privilege to see my families every week and Vista parents are sharing their fears with me. Many do not feel safe to be here tonight. So I will share on their behalf what they're most afraid of is being separated from their children. Remember, [snorts] I work with toddlers, some of whom who can't tell you their name, some of whom have developmental disabilities. Imagine for a moment being separated from your child. So, because my families want to prepare for the worst, I'm now giving every client the copy of a California child care affidavit form so they can have information on how to designate someone to care for their child in their absence. Again, this is a fear of Vista families of all statuses, including citizens because people are being profiled. [gasps] But this issue goes beyond individual families. It's about the health, safety, and prosperity of our city. And that is your charge. Vista has an opportunity to be a leader in the county, and you have an opportunity to be the leaders that Vista deserves. Martha Alvarado, 36, followed by Christine Clark, 37, followed by Alexander Gimenez, I think it is, uh, 38.

No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, the fourth and 14th amendment. Good evening. My name is Martha Alvarado. I'm a Marine Corps veteran, 26-year educator, proud daughter of Mexican immigrants, and a school board trustee here in Vista. In 1992, I took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. And that's what I'm here today to do, to defend the Constitution of the United States. I'm deeply troubled by the growing number of reports involving 170 American citizens, some United States veterans from the Marine Corps, Army, Navy, and Air Force being unlawfully detained by ICE, and other federal agencies. To be clear, no person, veteran, or otherwise, should be deprived of due process. The Constitution guarantees these protections to all of us without exception. When veterans, some of the most dedicated and selfless members of our community, are caught up in unlawful detentions, it signals a serious failure of oversight and a violation of values that we claim to uphold as a nation. Jorge Reetes, US Army, detained. Darren Hersburg, served in Afghanistan, detained. John Cerrone, Marine Corps veteran, served in Afghanistan, detained. Dana Briggs, 70-year-old Air Force veteran, knocked down to the ground during a protest. Muhammad Sahed Shadri, US Army veteran, detained. Every single account of a veteran being wrongfully detained is unacceptable. These are individuals who have served our country, defended our freedoms, upheld their oath to support and defend the Constitution. And it is disturbing that the very rights that they fought to protect are being denied to them by the same government that they served. I share these accounts because if UF veterans and citizens are being stripped of their due process, can you imagine what is happening to every other person who is comes in contact with some

of these rogue agents who act with impunity? As a Marine Corps veteran, a teacher, a community member, I expect our local leaders to stand firmly for community safety and civil liberties. I urge the city council to speak out on this issue to support transparency and accountability in federal enforcement actions and ensure that no resident of Vista, veteran or otherwise, is subjected to this unconstitutional treatment. I urge you to pass our community safety and due process resolution. And I also want to give a shout out to all the students from Vista Unifi who came out to speak for those without a voice. I'm so proud of you. Thank you. Christine Clark 37. Alexander Gimenez 38. Is Christine Clark here? I don't see her. Okay. Uh, now we'll hear from Alexander Gimenez, 38, followed by Pearl Mora, 39, and then we'll hear from Joe Hood, 40. I come here in favor of the resolution. Um 7 years ago, my my dad was deported.

[snorts] um when it happened, they had the decency to that my um mom and dad um drove off my little sister at school and after that they took him [snorts] with them. It doesn't get easy um to explain to my sister when my dad is coming back. I wouldn't want for anyone to feel this where their dad can any prayer can be just ripped away. [gasps and laughter]

[snorts] I just hope that you guys are able to make a decision where we can feel safe and [snorts] be more united where we're not pitting things against each other or anything. Um, thank you. Thank you. Uh, Pearl Mora 39 followed by Joe Hood 40.

Good evening, city council. My name is Pearl Mura. I'm a member of St. Francis of SC. I'm here tonight in strong support of the community safety and due process resolution and urge you to vote yes on this important local policy. We're looking to each of you to be bold leaders at this moment and do everything within your local jurisdictional power to stand with all immigrants in the city. Under this new administration, several Vista families have already been torn apart by the increase in immigration enforcement operations. The city must consider all options to protect its immigrant residents. Now, this is important to me because I know what it feels like to live in fear as a kid. The feeling of not feeling safe in our own city. As an educator, I see the effect these policies have made on our children. If we want a strong community, we need to protect our immigrant families. Vista needs to shift their focus on supporting our immigrant families who day in and day out work hard and help this community to be a better place. We need our future generations to feel safe and protected, not live in fear, so our visa community can continue to thrive. If protection is your number one priority, priority starts by protecting our children and their families who are the ones who carry so much in their hearts. [snorts] Um, our children carry a lot in their heart. Sorry. Um, you know, they they carry worry, they carry fear, stress, taking on roles that they shouldn't take. And all of this affects their education. And if you want our community to thrive, we need to start by protecting our children. Thank you.

Okay, now we're going to hear from the people with numbers uh 40 through 50. So, if you're in that group, uh please be ready. Joe Hood, number 40 is next, followed by Maria Fuentes 41, followed by Maria uh Delgadino, I think it is. Um number 42. What's that? For all those who assert we must follow the law like you, mayor. Who is violating the law? ICE actions include physical and sexual abuse, serious mistreatment of pregnant women, widespread abuse of solitary confinement, often retaliation for reporting abuse, dangerous overcrowding and unsanitary facilities, inadequate medical care with suicides and too little care for depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Mistreatment of children, including US citizens. Masked agents without warrants, have detained citizens. Children have been separated from their parents. Clergy have been shot with rubble bullets while praying. That's what's happening in our country. That's why we need to pass this. How can you deny due process? These actions are immoral and unconstitutional. Do you support the Constitution that you pledge to support? Then support due process. Or are your oaths mere words without meaning? ICE lost a lawsuit for improper targeting based on language, ethnicity, skin color. ICE detained South Korean workers with valid visas who were here to train US workers for good paying jobs, skilled jobs. Most of the Koreans went

home. ISIS is deporting thousands with minor or no offenses and without due process. Many were sent to hellhole prisons without charges. Some farms are unable to harvest their crops. Mayor, how can you support that kind of behavior? We must insist on following our constitution. Council member Contrarus is absolutely right. Vista must provide safety to all residents. In Matthew 25, Jesus says, "I was a stranger and you invited me. Whoever whatever you did for one of the least of my brothers and sisters, you did to me. What will you say when you're standing at the pearly gates? Maria Fuentes is 41, followed by Maria Dalgardino 42, followed by Ruben Ar. for Alunos.

Joseph. Marina Manos. Criminal Blanco. Much Maria Delgadoino followed by Ruben Arcio. Number 43

is uh number 42 Maria Delgadino. She's not here. Now we'll hear from number 43 Ruben Ace followed by [clears throat] Earl uh D A G Y I think it is 44 followed by Morin Brown 45. Good evening uh public officers, mayor and honorable councils. As a faith leader here in Vista, pastors and friends of a CC and resident of this church of this honorable city for 10 years already, I come here to call on your conscience and to approve and pass this resolution. My parish has 13,000 people coming to worship every Sunday. 9,000 families in which 90% are immigrants, different legal status. The people in Paris are suffering all these abuses in situations you have heard directly. I have g I have come here to boys them to ask you to reconsider. Our bishops also on November the 12 public um wrote a letter to all churches and all people that we to gather in faith to support one another. We acknowledge as Catholic Church that every country has a right to protect its borders but any measure in law enforcement has to be done with dignity, respect and love processes.

We the Catholic Church call upon you my community as faithful that you are also as Christians that we truly believe in the respect and dignity of every human being in the respect of life. We believe in justice. Due process is a right that we all have. It's sad that all citizens because of their of their color background back background cultural and ethnic city they overlooking to not walk on on the streets of this city. Our people are suffering and I come here to bo. I come here to support in their behalf and speak also as a immigrant and son of immigrants. Thanks to the hard work of my parents in this country, I was able to become who I am. I have a doctorate in education. I've been president of universities and colleges and professor. Now as a pastor, I also collaborate in the governing board of the University of San Diego. Thanks to this country and opportunities that we receive, I have become someone. We all need an opportunity to become someone and be able to achieve through the opportunities given to be better people, better citizens and make this city and this country great. I appeal to you that you

Barl uh Daggy I think it is uh 44 followed by Moren Brown 45 followed by Nancy Busher 46.

My name is Burl Daggy. I'm a member of the social justice committee at St. Francis of Aises. I'm a member at SDOP San Diego. I'm a parishioner at Mission St. Louisis Ray and I am a member of the Knights of Columbus. Thank you, Father. That's a tough act to follow. God bless you, Father, deacons, and the over 2,000 members at St. Francis that took the time to fill out a card in support of this resolution. I strongly support the resolution to protect the community from the unlawful targeting, detaining, and deporting of residents in our city and across our state and country. By passing this complete resolution, you are establishing immediate protection and legal framework for accountability and improvement. To delay action is to abandon vulnerable individuals to immediate to [clears throat] the immediate persistent threat that we currently face. It is imperative that we take a stand and choose a side to effectively stop and reverse this unlawfulness happening nationwide. We should leverage the concept of legislative redundancy restating existing law to achieve stronger language and clearer definitions. not to establish new rules, but to vastly improve the enforcability of current regulations. Again, I strongly support the resolution and please vote for it incomplete. Thank you. Morin Brown, 45 followed by Nancy Busher 46, followed by Felicia Gomez, 47.

Good evening. My name is Sister Morin Brown and I'm a member of St. Thomas Moore Catholic Church and I would like to read a brief letter from our pastor, Father Brent Krueger. As pastor of St. Thomas Moore Catholic Church, which has half of its members living in Vista. I write to ask you to carefully consider the Vista community safety and due process resolution. This resolution will create important mechanisms and protect immigrant communities from detention and deportation and mitigate harm to our communities that occur from immigration enforcement operations within the city of Vista. Several Vista families have already been torn apart by the increase in immigration enforcement operations. With the upcoming implementation of HR1, we anticipate an even larger increase in immigration enforcement within Vista. HR1 could provide $170 billion to the Department of Homeland Security over the next four years, making DHS the largest law enforcement's agency in the country and bigger than most militaries in the world. This surge in funding will disupcharge the deportation machine and result in even more families ripped apart by detention and deportation in the region. The city of Vista must prepare now for this increase in the enforcement activity to do everything within its power to ensure all community members are safe and provided with support. The community safety and due process resolution seeks to build trust within the immigrant community members and

minimize harm to Vista communities from immigration raids and operations. Specifically, [clears throat] the resolution will implement several ways to protect the community members from detention and deportation, such as ensuring know your rights information is readily available and visible in multiple languages across Vista. I strongly urge you to cl care carefully consider the community safety and due process resolution and support its passing. Sincerely, Reverend Brent Krueger, pastor of St. Thomas Moore Catholic Church.

Thank you. Uh Nancy Busher, 46, followed by Felicia Gomez, 47, followed by Joseé Luis Maldonado, 48.

Good evening. I'm Nancy Busher, a parishioner at St. Thomas Moore Catholic Church. I strongly support support the resolution being discussed tonight. I would like to quote a little bit from the statement that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued last week, their first public statement in almost 13 years. We oppose the indiscriminate mass dis deportation of people. We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement. We pray that the Lord may guide the leaders of our nation, and we are grateful for past and present opportunities to dialogue with public and elected officials. In this dialogue, we will continue to advocate for meaningful immigration reform. There's been much to said tonight about law and order and I certainly am supportive of law and order. Unfortunately, what we have had with the actions of ICE and with the border control division. We no longer have law and order. We have violence, indiscriminate detentions. And I think your resolution or this resolution will be a great help in providing the citizens of Vista with the additional protections that you will provide. Thank you.

Felicia Gomez, 47, followed by Joseé Luis Maldonado, 48, followed by Sylvia Navaro, 49. [snorts]

Good evening, Mayor Franklin and Vista City Council members. My name is Felicia Gomez. I'm a lifelong Vista resident, a constituent of District 2, and a member of the Sewing Seeds of Dignity Coalition. I'm also the campaign director at the California Immigrant Policy Center, which is a statewide immigrant rights organization dedicated to advancing pro-immigrant, state, and local policies. I'm here tonight to express my strong support for the Community Safety and Due Process resolution as written with all four provisions intact. I would also like to thank you, Council Member Contras, for introducing this important policy and for your strong leadership. My family's immigration history to the US is baked into the very fabric of this city, like countless of other immigrant families who call Vista home and have done so for generations. Immigrants are a critical part of our Vista community. They're our family, our friends, our neighbors, our colleagues. Nearly a quarter of Vista residents are immigrants and nearly half of all residents are Latino. These figures demonstrate just how much our community is directly impacted by this resolution and cares at a at a moment in time when we are facing unprecedented levels of immigration enforcement in our city and nationwide. And with the passage of HR1, which is estimated to allocate over 170 billion dollars to DHS, making it one of the largest almost militaries in the world. Let's be clear, we are facing one of the largest deportation campaigns in our history. Our communities are afraid and the Trump administration has a blatant disregard for people's due process rights. The community safety and due process resolution will provide and equip Vista residents with vital safeguards from immigration enforcement operations to ensure everyone in our communities can thrive. This resolution is the absolute bare minimum for what our city can do at a moment in time when

our communities are afraid and looking to you all as city leadership to do everything in your power to stand with us. This resolution is an important step forward in building trust with the folks who call Vista home, like myself, and is desperately needed at this moment. The city has a a important responsibility to pass local policies like this that ensure the well-being of all city residents regardless of immigration status. We as Vista residents are looking to you all, our city leaders, to be vocal, bold, and unwavering in your support of immigrant communities. By passing this resolution, the city makes it clear to all residents that it stands with us and that it seeks to build trust with the communities that you were elected to serve. I urge you to vote yes on this important resolution and stand with immigrant communities. Thank you.

Jose Luis Maldonado, 48, Sylvia Navaro, 49, followed by Mary Davis 50. Good evenings, uh, sir, um, Mayor Franklin and, uh, council members and the city, um, workers of the city. I'm a little bit nervous today, but I'm sorry. Uh, I'm here to, uh, to support the policy that we are here to present. And we began with with a pledge of allegiance in which we are being loyal to the law. And one thing that I I've noticed that we have taken due process a little bit out of context. I remember last time you mentioned that due process is only in the court of law. But in this case, due process is not only in that sense because what we're talking about due process is doing things according to the law and enforcing the law. So I also heard many people saying about a sanctuary and one of the people who just spoke about sanctuary they gave the definitions of sanctuary talking about allocating money for that which none of the provisions that we are trying to implement mention any allocation of funds for that reason we are supporting due process just to do things according to justice according to to their of the right to enforce the law. And one of the things that I want you to to be aware is we're not trying to condone criminals or recover criminals or protect criminals. We're just asking you to protect the people who are here and who are being affected

by the situation by the way the law is being enforced. Many people who are uh part of the procedures, these military people that are being part of the the groups, they are encouraged by money. They receive rewards for uh getting people for apprehending people. And that's not right. Just today, this woman was taken. It was just a regular worker, a woman with no criminal record. She was just begging who is going to take care of my child? You heard all these testimonies of people who have suffered for families taken apart. So they are the voices. They are the ones who need your support. And I'm here to ask you to beg you to reconsider your support for this. It's part of being what you are, what you promise to be sticking to the law. Due process means doing what is right. Thank you.

Sylvia Navaro, 49, followed by Mary Davis 50, followed by Gary Taylor, 51. By the way, if uh there's anybody that's holding on to a speaker slip and has not yet submitted it, we would ask at this time that you go ahead and submit all outstanding speaker slips to our city clerk here. Is Sylvia Navaro here? Not seeing Sylvia Navaro. Uh we will now hear from Mary Davis, followed by Gary Taylor, followed by Alejandro Sanchez, 52. We're going to now start the 50 through 60 block. Hi, good evening. Mary Davis, government watchdog, regional accountability partner, and anti-Marxist organizer. And I I use that title tonight, which I normally don't, but I'm increasingly starting to see it because what I'm seeing is um a weaponization of empathy that is actually being used to get people to vote against their own self-interest and to let down their guard. And uh and so I really would like to wake up the people um when I hear from Catholic Charities, Jewish family services, and the Bible verses being thrown around. Yes. Micah 6, love justice, seek mercy, uh walk humbly with our God. But that also comes at a price of self-preservation and putting the guard rails up. You see, too far many of these policies have collateral damage. And while the trope of the gardener or the housekeeper um being taken away in cuffs and that they're the only ones being affected, I would counter where was the concern for due process, mercy, and justice for Joselyn Joselyn Ngari, Oscar Omar Hernandez, or the three girls in Sacramento. uh Samara Samya and Samantha Mora Gutierrez, they would all be alive

had immigration laws been enforced. So for the people that are decrying that that were at this pa place in history with what they perceive as heavy-handed immigration, that is directly from the lack of immigration that came before. What I'm asking tonight is that we work together collectively to find balance and restore compassionate immigration enforcement to our country. Get rid of the zealots on either side of the ferveny spectrum. Work collectively. I don't know that this policy is really going to solve anything. I mean, have you had federal immigration officers creeping around behind scenes or is this a solution in search of a problem? Is it more politically fueled? Um, I would like to say that I compare immigration to a boat and if we put everybody going into a boat, it would quickly become apparent when the system would get overwhelmed. The boat has got to float. We have 50% of people right now that a baby is being born on medical in San Diego County. What number is sustainable? So, let's work together cooperatively to um do compassionate enforcement while keeping citizens safe because many of the immigrant victims are immigrants and people of color themselves. Lastly, I see a lot of young people here tonight. Thank you for being involved in government. But I am asking for you to study for yourselves the history of the brown shirts in Germany and the red guard in China. Your public education system is failing you. Learn the harsh histories yourself. Thank you.

Gary Taylor 51. Alejandro Sanchez 52. Vicky Cole 53. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and City Council for allowing us to speak. Uh, I'm concerned about the absence of any comments about the media and what the national media has created. Uh, I read the papers every day and I haven't seen anything about FISTA having a problem with ICE and all these other so-called groups that are upsetting everybody. With that said, the city of Vista's official statement is centered on providing exceptional ser services, improving quality of life, and enhancing the community's uniqueness. The city is committed to strategic goals, including addressing homelessness through its strategic plan and is currently updating its general plan to guide future development and preserve the city's character. The long range plan include policies for land use, housing, and safety. Tonight, I'm only concerned with the safety of every person in Vista. Strategic goals for Vista. One of them is safe, clean neighborhoods. Future planning safety. I emphasize safety three times. A sanctuary city. And I use that word sanctuary because that's all I read about in the media. Sanctuary. We haven't become Los Angeles, San

Francisco, Philadelphia, or New York City. Hopefully, we won't. Sanctuary is city is a city, town or country with policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. These policies are personnel to assist in enforcing federal migration immigration laws such as by not asking about a disclosing a person's immigration status and not honoring all federal requests to detain individuals on civil immigration matters. There is no single official legal dev definition and the specific's policies vary among many different jurisdictions. By your definition, what kind of a citizen are you encouraging to come to live here in Vista? How will it benefit our city? If they are illegal in the first place and you know it, it should be handled by the government where they can be encouraged to come to the US to enter our society and contribute. If we know they are illegal, shame on us.

Thank you, Mr. Taylor. I apologize. That's the end of your time.

Mr. Taylor, I apologize. I have to hold everybody to three minutes. I'm sorry, sir. Thank you, Mr. Taylor. Next is Alejandro Sanchez.

Alejandra Sanchez, 52, followed by Ted Cole, 53, followed by Bob Marcales, 54. City Council members, my name is Alejandro Sanchez. I've been around in the our city for over 25 years volunteering eding for children, families, and communities. I'm not a Democrat or Republican. I don't like politicians because this is what the side is about. It's about politics, nothing else. Helping the immigrants, I don't think so. just read the uh agenda report page number two of 14 says to stop knowledge no federal immigration enforcement activities have occurred on city property in areas that are not publicly accessible. I heard earlier an elderly woman who said that there is no evidence or we need to have evidence. Well, even the staff recognize that there there is no evidence that we have these issues here. The real problems that we having really is affordable housing. We don't have no housing here in our city. Now, in our county is even worse. 85,000 people and they're waiting less for just for for a home. That's ridiculous that we talking about issues that are they important but not as important as affordable housing is. I know a lot of homeless people in our community. Uh one of my one of those homeless people is my uncle. He volunteered for 17 years in our community in a shelter homeless place and he's sleeping in his car. after volunteering not getting a salary like you you know you're getting your

salary you you're okay he's not getting nothing after he served now we have that's true we have so many thousands of people coming from other countries and what happens they get housing right away and I'm still waiting I'm a disabled man waiting on the waiting list for 17 years and I proudly serving this community in different capacities. [sighs] It's absurd, you know. Uh I went recently to Norate. They were asking for money for immigrants and I was like, what? Money for immigrants now? This is a business now, nothing else. And it's a political thing without doubt. Thank you.

Next is Ted Cole, number 53. And we're in the 50 to 60 block right now. Uh Ted Cole uh 53 followed by Bob Marcel 54 followed by Kathleen Bole 55.

Here [snorts] we are again. Admirable mayor and honorable council members. My name is Ted Cole and I've been a resident of the city of Vista for 63 going on 64 years. And I have never in those 64 years ever seen the city of Vista, its citizens, nor the Vista City Council when the city was established in 64 ever turn its back on helping the less fortunate. Always has risen to the task. Now speaking to this issue, I'll read to this make it under three minutes. I respectfully ask the author of the community safety and due process resolution to withdraw it from consideration based upon the following. one, the danger of placing a bullseye directly upon the city of Vista with the current federal administration, which could, I'm not saying will, but certainly could lead to the city losing or freezing of millions of dollars in federal funding to the city for its programs. Examples: community block grant funds, senior nutrition program, child nutrition program, road infrastructure projects. These are just name a few. I know I'm not touching on all of them, but there's millions of dollars out there that we could possibly lose or have frozen. Now, the city has the funds, I assume, to

fill those holes, or do those programs just cease to exist until the federal funding does come forward? Two, potential legal costs defending the city against discriminatory lawsuits brought by contractors unwilling to abide from disclosing sensitive personal or non-public information to federal immigration enforcement agents. Well, it also states in that bullet point that following state or federal law, well, the state right now is in a lawsuit with the federal government over being a sanctuary city and its policies and the administration has proposed withholding those such show funds. Third, if passed, the divisiveness and it's been apparent all night long that this issue is brought.

Thank you, Mr. Cole. Sorry, that's the end of your time. Just so so that everybody knows uh because of the wonderful acoustics in this room, conversations in the back of the room can be heard up here on the dis while we're trying to listen to speakers. So, if you could remove as many of the conversations as possible and try to be quiet while everybody's speaking, appreciate that. Uh, Bob Marcales, 54, followed by Kathleen Bole, 55, followed by Debbie Yates, 56. My name is Bob Marcel. My wife and I and our family have lived in Vista since 1990. I would like to thank the veteran that's Marine veteran that spoke about 10 or 15 speakers ago for her service to our nation. She read the second se sent sent sentence of the 14th amendment to the constitution of the United States. I'd like to read both the first and second to put context on that. It starts as all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens in the United States nor any state. And it goes on. The city of Vista is supposed to have a representative form of democracy where the citizens elect representatives who then vote on behalf of them representing them on city matters. It appears that three members of the city council are refusing to perform that duty. At the September 23rd city council meeting, city residents by an overwhelming majority of at least 3 to one, expressed strong opposition to becoming a sanctuary city. It was pointed out by many speakers, including myself, that all cities that have adopted a sanctuary city status are now having major crime problems. Businesses

are being overrun and destroyed by crowds, breaking windows, and stripping the shelves bare. uh vehicle theft, carjackings, or even worse, drugrelated deaths, including my nephew from fentanyl. Increased occurrences of rape, child abuse, sex trafficking, and even kidnapping kidnapping are on the rise in those cities. What do you expect when those city leaders leaders publicly announced that illegal aliens already lawb breakakers will be allowed to h to hide in those cities? As we know from too many news reports, the population of illegal aliens in those cities significantly increases but that a not insignificant number of those illegals are already guilty of significantly worse offenses in our country like rape, murder, and drug uh drug dealers. Law enforcement is not equipped to handle this problem. Many instances of sex trafficking and kidnapping have been discovered only as a result of ICE raids on suspected locations. Kidnapped children, especially young girls sold or to be used as prostitutes have been recovered and returned to their family only because of ICE raids. And now the city's group of three wants to impede ISIS's ability to do that. The last meeting I defined an ice magnet as a place with a high concentration of illegal aliens and stated that ICE is drawn to ice magnets. You say you don't want ice in our communities. Then why do you try to make our entire city an ice magnet? Thank you very much. I apologize. That's your time. Uh next we'll hear from Kathleen Bole 55 followed by Debbie Yates 56 followed by John Murphy 57. Hi, good evening.

Over 800 years ago in the year 1215 in Runny England, King John faced with potential rebellion of his lords signed the Magna Carta which established the principle that no one not even the king is above the law and that individuals are protected from illegal imprisonment and harm to themselves and property by the concept of due process. This is the cornerstone of American justice. It applies to all people in the US of any and all documentation status. We have seen ICE patrols across our country violating this fundamental principle with glee and with no remorse. An apartment building in Chicago was torn apart when ICE agents descended from a helicopter and conducted an unwarranted search of the whole building. All residents, old and young, citizens and non-citizens were forced onto the sidewalk and zip tied while their apartments were destroyed. You can go online and see the result. Many individuals asked ICE to produce warrants and asked for lawyers, but to no avail. The end result was not even one person from that building had any legal problems. They were all dismissed the next day. Not one. They just went in first, didn't ask any questions. Due process cannot be dropped when it is not convenient. The regulation that has been passed by Vista City Council is merely an effort an effort to underline the principle that already applies throughout the nation since the founding. It is a reminder. It calls special attention to places where due process concept is more dramatically important such as schools, courts, courts of law

and government buildings. The regulation does not make Vista a sanctuary city. Our mayor can call it a sanctuary city here in chamber in this regulation and in his sound bites in speeches in the community. It does not make it true and he knows it is not true. But repetition can convince some that it is true. Just as some people believed that Haitian immigrants were eating cats because politicians repeated the lie over and over, those politicians knew that it was a lie, but that knew that repetition of lies can lead to some believing the lies. The concepts of due process is a foundation of English common law. We cannot abandon it now. We don't want felons in our midst, whether they are citizens or non-citizens. But ICE must get warrants to apprehend immigrants who have committed crimes. ICE agents are not above the law either.

Now we'll hear from Debbie Yates, 56, followed by John Murphy, 57, followed by Janet Buger, 58.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. I'm for restoring unity and the quality of living in Vista, California. We have been a community of natives and immigrants and living in peace for generations. My family has been in Vista for four generations and familiar with the rees recent crisis. We can improve our public safety that has deteriorated in an alarming degree in my opinion [clears throat] since 2020. I'm pro- lawful immigration. I'm pro- legal entry. I support the rule of law and lawfulness for all. Come legally, go through the process and be proud of it. We are in a state of emergency because of lawlessness and this has made North County a significantly more dangerous place to live. Failing to engage law enforcement in the past put all American citizens of every cultural background at risk. For example, it's allowed terrorists, anti-American [clears throat] groups, trafficking, drug proliferation, and all and more to mobilize inside our community. No one wants their children harmed. Our Vista community provides safety by working with legitimate enforcement. I do not feel safe knowing there has not been lawful enforcement in the recent past. I have been personally affected by dangerous actions taken against me. As a result,

it is our calling to encourage law enforcement to cooperate with homeland security for the emergency measures that we need to keep vistan safe. Each one of us, whether we like it or not, must respect the law. Due process applies to legal citizens. I oppose sanctuary policy, which results in willingly or unwittingly shielding and aiding individuals bent on harming Americans. Due to the way the deceiving way that the resolution has been crafted, my v vote would have to be no. So, thank you so much each one of you.

Thank you. John Murphy, 57, followed by Janna Buger, 58, followed by Justin Gans, 59.

Uh, Mayor John Franklin and city council, thank you for the opportunity to speak. Uh, I'll just get it out front. Uh, I implore you to vote no tonight. Um, I think, uh, immigration and illegal immigration in this country is, uh, what's called the third rail. Um currently I think the um silent majority is becoming the vocal majority. And if you want to drive conservative and uh patriotic voters uh to the polls um vote yes on this and that's exactly what will happen. So be very careful what you do tonight. Um, I've heard a lot of term. I didn't write a speech, but I wrote down some notes about stuff that I've heard tonight. And I've heard a lot of people described as community, residents, even constituents, which I don't think illegal immigrants are can be constituents. Um, employee employees. Um, we're here to talk about citizens, right? We want to know that citizens have these rights. I I you know the constitution I hear people you know saying we have to protect the constitution. We have to protect the laws. Where were those people when we had tens of thousands of unvetted immigrants coming across our borders and streaming into this country. You know, it's common sense that, you know, um, citizens want to be treated fairly. They don't want their money squandered on things like putting illegal immigrants up in nice hotels in Cal in in New York and wherever. All the money that's being

spent is uh causing uh everything else to be more expensive. I know housing is more expensive as a result of all the uh immigration that the illegal immigration that's taken place. Um I know wages uh there is um u a downward pressure on wages uh here in California and I'm sure across the country because of this issue. Uh my daughter uh and uh is getting married soon and she wants to move out of California because she can't afford housing. I'd hate to see her go and quite frankly if she goes I'll probably go as well. Um I'm concerned that if you adopt this policy you will not only encourage people to um invade you know the non-public spaces uh that you uh talk about in this policy. And not only that but you'll encourage more people to cross the border uh and join our country illegally. Um, please I implore you vote no. Thank you.

Jenna Berger 58, followed by Justin Gans 59, followed by Ian Cervel 60.

Thank you, city council members. This is my first time talking literally in public. Um, I want to speak to common sense. I am proud the Vista in cooperation with local churches, organizations like Solutions for Change, food banks have carried off carried forward in North County the mantle of homelessness and challenged other communities around us to take the same burden that we have. I've worked with those organizations and I've supported them. However, I believe that the current toward toward the current trend toward defying our social structure and government is irresponsible and irreverent. Not only are you risking federal sanctions, you are risking the very quality of life of those you sought to provide for citizens. If you consider that you must provide housing, schools, facilities, and safety to people who are wishing to you are wishing to attract to this community by passing this legislation, that is not necessary. California passed in 2014 a law that clearly states that ICE cannot come in and do this type of um stuff. um says the detainer pro local law enforcement agencies need only honor ICE detainer aliens who meet the one following criteria criteria specific serious or violent felony aliens who meet um at least [clears throat] one of the following criterias. Felony conviction punishable state sexual certain sexual crimes misdemeanor conviction within certain um parameters. State of California already has that legislation. By putting a target on our community, you're not only reg resising [sighs] our federal grants and sanctions, you're at writing into a law verbiage that

can't be removed easily. Once you put something into law into verbiage, removing that is very difficult. I've read this uh disclaimers that they put on saying what your rights are for due process and all the different things about resisting. They've handed them out of my Head Start classroom. Everywhere that I've been, they've handed this brochures out. It's already out there. People know. But the thing is is you have to realize due process for immigration is not done in the courts similar to dro due process for felonies and misdemeanor. It's treated differently and it is treated very seriously in this country. And people who are accused and are released are just like anybody who's accused of a crime and released. It's sad. It happens. But it doesn't mean that we have to put legislation and words and verbiage into our um law that state this obviously. Thank you.

Justin Gans 59 followed by Ian Cerello 60 followed by Frank Flity 61.

Good evening council. My name is Justin Gans. I am a District 3 resident here in solidarity with the immigrant community of Vista, many of whom are indigenous to this continent. I'm speaking in support of the community safety and due process resolution. And I'm speaking against the vile dehumanization and division of our community caused by John Franklin. I support this resolution because all people are entitled to their rights to self-determination and the freedom to live with dignity and without fear. This resolution simply protects the legal rights we already have and informs our community of those rights. Additionally, it protects our personal data, something we should all be concerned about. This represents the bare minimum of what needs to be done to protect our community. I especially urge Council Member O'Donnell to follow through on the promises he made to listen to and respond to the needs of his constituents. We are relying on your support. Migration is a human right and no one is illegal on stolen land. Council passes resolution. Ian Cervel 60. So we'll be now be on the 60 to 70 group. Uh followed by Frank Flity 61 followed by Tazine 62.

Hopefully this is not break me pushing it down a little bit. All right. If you'd like to, there's a toggle button on the podium in front of you. You have to hit it two times. Okay, we're good.

Thank you. Uh hello, city uh Vista City Council. It is great with great urgency that I ask you to pass the due uh process and safety resolution to pro protect our immigrant community in Vista. We have seen in our city, county, state, and country that ICE has been attacking the most vulnerable of our community, targeting hardworking people solely based on the color of their skin. We have seen all across the uh the nation that they have been going that they've been going up to people and have just been saying asking their identification instead of knowing that these are criminals and actually going after them. They're going after innocent hardworking people and it is absolutely unacceptable. Uh the constitution protects all people um all people regardless of their citizenship. Um and ICE has shown blatant disregard for the law. This predatory behavior from this increasingly authoritarian federal government should alarm everyone who cares about freedom and justice for all. You want to stop uh illegal immigration and for the people to do it the right way. Make uh accessing the American dream more accessible. Make it uh make pe uh make the citizen pro citizenship process a lot easier so people will not have to jump through hoops and don't have to go through quotequote illicit um means to to do so. Um they you need to uh stop kidnapping. Uh we need to see uh I stop kidnapping people at the courthouse who are doing it the right way. Stop the cruelty. Vote yes and support the due uh process and safety resolution. This is the bare minimum of what I need to do to protect the backbone of our community from big government and tyranny. Uh thank you um member Contrarus for bringing the resolution. Frank Flity uh 61 followed by Dina Nazam 62 followed by Clint Carney 63.

I missed one. Oh. Oh, thank you very much.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. The 14th amendment is one of the strongest guarantees in our constitution. It states that no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of the law, and that every person is entitled to equal protection. These protections are not conditional. They're not selective. They're not dependent on appearance, accent, faith, or immigration status. They apply to everyone. Yet today, we see that ICE has undermined these protections. ICE enforcement's practices disproportionately impacting black, brown, Muslims, and immigrant communities. People are detained not because of evidence of lawful cause, but because of racial profiling. Officers stop individuals who look foreign, raid homes in communities of color, and pursue people based on appearances rather than any credible threat or legal justification. This is radicalized policing at the federal level, and it stands in direct conflict with the 14th Amendment. ICE has ignored federal court orders and skirted constitutional limits. Its operations often by bypass due process entirely, detaining people without clear evidence, without proper judicial review, and in some cases even confirming identities. The result is a system where race becomes the determining factor in who is targeted, who is detained, and who is punished by this deportation system. This is not law enforcement. This is racial enforcement. When due process is abandoned, communities are left to live under fear rather than law and families are afraid to report crimes. Families are afraid of coming forward. Families are afraid of living their lives. This evasion of the law causes communities destruction and unrest. This is not something that the city of Vista should be investing time, effort, energy [clears throat] into. This is exactly why the 14th amendment was written to prevent government actors from abusing

their power and to ensure that every person is treated fairly under the law. The city of Vista has a duty to uphold the promise. Local governments cannot turn a blind eye when federal agencies engage in unconstitutional conduct. Silence or neutrality on your part in the face of racial discrimination will be an unjust action. By affirming due process protections here in Vista, you're not just challenging federal authority. You are upholding constitutional authority. So I implore each one of you to vote for this in a positive manner. Thank you.

Frank Flity 61. Oh, I'm sorry. Um I think we already hear from we already hear from Frank. Did I get out of order? Because we heard from Naz Tina. Now it's Did was Flinker did Frankly speak? I I think we got out of order there. That's my apologies. Mr. Flity, you're next. Followed by Clint Carney, you're next. Oh, I'm sorry. We So, Frank Clity is not here. Then, Mr. Carney, you're next.

Mayor and City Council. My name is Clint Carney. I'm a member of the advisory board of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium, and I work with Survivors of Torture International, serving uh torture survivors throughout San Diego County. Uh we're here in support of this ordinance or this uh issue and thank you for putting on the agenda and giving everyone a chance to speak tonight. As you know, immigration law is extremely complex. Every single person has a different situation. It's also important to know that violent criminals who are immigrants without immigration status have always been deportable. That's nothing new. It's always happened. They've gone through the court system. A ruling is made and out they go. The real crime is saying the words murderer, rapist, child molester over and over and over and over in the same sentence as the words the word immigrant. Another crime is kidnapping in innocent people. Immigrants who come here to work in this country, they pay billions and billions in tax revenue. They pay their own way. Refugees who come here, they're approved and provided protection before they get to the United States. They get a work permit. They get a social security number. They pay their own way. They also sign a promisory note and they they are basically paying a loan back for the cost of relocating them to the United States. They pay their own way. Asylum seekers are fleeing danger for the same reasons refugees, but we don't know who they are until they get here. But asylum seekers can apply for asylum anytime they appear in the United States, even in international waters. And they're brought on shore. They are going through the system. They can uh pursue asylum claims in immigration court. They also work and pay taxes and pay their own way. Forced migration is a global pandemic that has to be addressed. 125 million people around the world are forced from their homes. They go in all directions and some come here. Torture is carried out

in 141 countries around the world. That's 75% of the world. Horrible trauma is committed, human on human, by brutal dictators, government officials, and unchecked gangs. In San Diego County, more than 38,000 torture survivors live in San Diego County alone. That's approximately the student body population of San Diego State. All of them, all immigrants of all categories, all situations. They deserve a chance at a better life. They deserve the opportunity to explain their situation and go through the process. So, thank you very much for this opportunity and for treating people with dignity.

Larry Warner, 64, followed by Gary King, 65, followed by James Amador, 66. Larry Warner, today before I arrived here, I was asked by a friend of mine, "What are you doing? Why are you going there?" And I said, 'It because the love of God compels me. Said because Jesus said, 'As you've done to the disenfranchised, as you've done to the disinherited, you've done to me. I'm here for my brothers and sisters who are being terrorized, who are living in fear that their dad, their mom may not come home today because they got kidnapped on their way to work, on their way to drop off their child at school. I'm here to ask you to vote yes on the Vista Community Safety and Due Process Resolution. This isn't about politics, but about the value and dignity of human lives, all human lives. This is this resolution emphasizes safety, inclusion, and justice for everyone. A yes vote is the city of Vista's declaration that everyone, regardless of where they were born, will be treated fairly under the law. A yes vote also sends a message to immigrants that we see you, we hear you, we care about you. And this is an important message in a time when they are being dehumanized, vilified, and hunted down, fueled by quotas and racial profiling. When you vote tonight, you're not voting for or against the well-being of some faceless group. You are voting for or against grandmothers and grandfathers, fathers and mothers, students and children who

all have faces, names, stories, and roots in our community. We urge you to stand up for the value and dignity of human lives of our immigrants brothers and sisters and vote yes on the Vista community safety and due process resolution. Not some of it, but all of it. Especially sections C and D that protect the information being shared by those who contract with Vista and those that and the data collected by Vista itself. That is hugely important to protect these individuals. Let our immigrant community know that Vista leaders see them, hear them, and care about them. That they matter. Vote yes on this resolution. Thank you.

Gary King 65 followed by James Amador 66 followed by Helen Linder 67.

Hello. Um I strongly oppose this resolution and um I think it's a unconstinal unconstitutional uh futile effort to do this but it's also um an obstruction of federal law. It's a form of nullification of federal law. And like the uh Confederates did in the Civil War, they wanted to keep slavery. Well, this uh resolution will install slavery on a mass scale, sex slavery. It'll put a lot of young kids who were missing when they were brought across the border and put them on the streets as be on your heads. Now, I oppose this uh uh resolution and I think Contrarus and uh Melinda's sh ought to be recalled because this is a a disgusting thing that they've uh put forth and they've organized in the community. They're activists. They have uh gotten a ton of people here. I don't know whether they brought in bus loads, but the other room uh is full. And you you'll be proud of that, I'm sure. But I'm I'm ashamed that uh you're on the council here and this whole thing is um what this meeting is the third time about this issue. I was here last time and I saw so many overwhelming comments uh opposing this issue, but now uh you've got your uh soldiers here and I understand what you're doing. Um in large view um we had four years where

there was no border control. Millions tens of millions of uh pe people came through without uh being um uh legally uh allowed and uh they've flooded uh our country. It has caused less available housing. They they've fl uh competed for our housing jobs and they've suppressed wages in our uh country. And when you um do that, uh our children of uh citizens in uh this area and across the country can't afford to stay in California. It's they have to leave. And what's going to happen is uh it's a it's a it's a shame, but um you know, a lot of a lot of the uh enforcement has been on um uh criminals that the federal people have warrants on and they should be allowed to go without obstruction.

Thank you, James. Amodore 66, followed by Helen Leer 67, followed by Teresa Fresi 68. Good to [clears throat] see you again.

Hello. Hello, city council and hello fellow citizen citizens of Vista. My name is James Amador and I hope you're all having an amazing day because I know I am. Um I am speaking today as a resident of Vista uh district 2. Um, I'm also the president of North County Young Dems and I'm speaking in favor of the due process resolution because Vista, sorry, Vista is a city of law and order and it is a city that respects the sanctity of the family. There are vulnerable communities that live in this city being targeted by a felon president. Experts at the Migration Policy Institute have found that 71% of ICE detainees have no criminal conviction. This means that federal that the federal government is targeting innocent people. The only way that we could justify violating people's human rights is by painting them as criminals. Think about the language that's being used today. Criminal, criminal, criminal. The Bill of Rights apply to all peoples in this nation regardless if you're a criminal or not. If you're here, you have rights. [clears throat] While we are not able to change the federal law in this meeting, we can ensure we are not complicit in this violation of human rights. People should be informed on their rights to pro that protect them from unreasonable search and seizure, the fourth amendment. If in case you didn't know, that is exactly what this resolution does. And that is why I'm asking my representative, Council Member Fox, to vote in favor of it. Thank you. Now we'll hear from Helen Linder 67 followed by Terresa Frzy 68 followed by Jensen Hazburg 69. [clears throat]

Hi um good evening. I'm Helen Linder. I'm also a representative of um district 2 and have Jeff Fox as my council person. Um, many have spoken um tonight with very good points in support of the resolution and I am as well. But I'd like to talk tonight uh specifically about crime which seems to be a concern of many including myself because if there are criminal offenders in my community with a vest arrest warrants um I absolutely want them removed. Um, I want law enforcement to still be able to go after criminals and this resolution does nothing to um to change that or to hinder their ability to do so. Um, but currently 70% of those being currently being detained do not have any criminal record at all. And of the remaining 30%, most of those are minor offenses such as traffic violations. Um remember that merely entering um the country without documentation is not a criminal um violation. It's a civil violation and we're not here to discuss that. Um that is something that um we do definitely need um some better immigration laws in this nation. But this is not about that. This is about what we can do in our city. Um, research consistently shows that both documented and undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit crimes, be incarcerated, or be convicted of serious offenses such as homicide, sexual assault, robbery, etc. compared to US-born citizens. And one of the studies that confirmed this was funded by the National Institute of Justice. And I was able to even look up these numbers that confirm this on the um Department of Justice website. But currently our immigrant neighbors, both documented and undocumented [clears throat] here in Vista, are are feeling unsafe

and therefore less likely to report crimes and that only makes everyone feel less safe. Imagine for a minute that you are have been a victim of a crime and feeling so unsafe that you don't report it knowing that that could target you even further. Um and that the offender then isn't being looked for or in any any kind of a system anywhere where law enforcement can then do their job. So that's what's happening right now. Um so that's why I'd like you to please consider a yes vote as on this resolution, a step to make us all safer. Thank you, Teresa Frzy. Followed by Jensen Hazburg, 69.

Hi, I'm Teresa Freeze. Uh my husband and I have lived in Vista for 35 years. Um I oppose um this measure because um well, I'd like to talk about safety in Vista. Um, if this measure were to go through, it would be an invitation for criminals with felonies that commit crimes like sex trafficking, child abduction to have a sanctuary place here in Vista. Um, and so let's talk more about the other cities that have uh sanctuary or sanctuary policy like Oakland who has embraced uh sanctuary policy since 1986. They have um a a a violent crime rate of 436% national average. Do you know what Vistas is for violent crime? Currently, it's at 12%. Um, and and the even the churches in Oakland have not been saved over the last couple of years. Um, they have gone in and uh vandalized one church over $300,000. So, LA is also a sanctuary city. These are cities that embrace sanctuary policy. LA their their violent crime rate, this is not average, this is violet. Violent crime rate is 103%. San Francisco is 66%. San Jose is 69%. Berkeley is 78%. Long Beach is 88%. Sacramento is 110%. And West Hollywood is 146%.

Um, this is not what Vista wants. We do not want higher. We want safety for everybody and this is not a good policy at all. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Jensen Hazburg, 69, followed by Carmen G, who's number 70. So, we'll be starting the 70 to 80 block.

Good evening. I am here today to show support for the fellow members of our community who live in constant fear of being unjustly targeted. As we consider the city's role in federal immigration efforts, I urge us to remember that immigrants aren't faceless statistics nor political pawns. They are our neighbors, co-workers, and friends. individuals who are woven into the very fabric of our communities. People who deserve dignity, respect, and protection. Tonight, may we recognize that we are better when we are inclusive. When we welcome and support those who come to this country and in doing so improve it. Let us choose a path of kindness, empathy, and justice where we reject any efforts in aiding federal organizations that target and marginalize our neighbors and friends. And if we are unable to find the moral compass within ourselves, Lord, give us the courage to welcome every stranger. May we share with them the blessings we have received and recognize that together as one human family, we are all migrants. I urge you to vote yes. America is strengthened by immigrants. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, we'll hear from Carmen G number 70, then Esmeralda Garcia, 71, and Cypriano Vargas, 72. a vote. Yes. I first want to start off by acknowledging um the community members that came together. I know there's earlier comment, but we all came together because we all believe in how the outcome of this conversation should happen. Regardless of where you stand, these were folks, youth, elders made the decision to come out on a Tuesday when we have to work tomorrow. We got school made their own decision and be out here. Um, Council Member Contas didn't bring them out. This is all community-led. And I want to start off by thanking all the organizers who came together um to put the space together today. And also all the folks about 80 to 100 folks in the overflow room. It was hot in there, but we stood stood together and we're standing there together cuz we all believe that we should stand here and vote yes on this resolution. the community members who came together to take care of community members by us taking care of our own Pueblo, our own people, by giving out pizza and water and we've been making our rounds also in this town and council chamber as well. And we do this because we know how powerful it is when a Pueblo comes together to help one another. Now, I want to urge y'all to vote yes on this resolution. And I want to ground us about what's been happening locally around um Vista. Escandido sent a letter to Congress August 2025. Riverside City Council passed a resolution October 2025. And Oceanside as of last month put the know your rights website last month, October 2025. Vista, what are we doing now? It's our time to stand up cuz this is not a new conversation. Mayor Franklin, you represent our city. You represent

everyone. And I really want to urge you that your words have weighed an impact. I've seen your Tik Toks and also your Facebook posts. And I want to let you know that there's youth watching the way that you criminalize our folks, our the immigrant community. And how that really shapes and shapes our lived experiences. Regardless of how you view us, we are still here in your city and you're responsible for us. At the end of the day, we must also be critical about the systems because the systems are not always going to continue serving. We all have to continue evolving. Yes, the laws are how they are. And what are we going to do? Continue being complicit. The needs are always going to be changing. And when we look at history, we see that when we started being critical of the systems, for all of y'all sitting here in front of me, we got something out of it that we all benefit from. the women's right movement, the Americans with Disability Act, Dhaka, and things along those lines because community came up and spoke up. This is a this is a conversation that we're having now, but it's long overdue. And I want to center that. Homes are being raided. Day laborers are being taken in broad daylight. And for folks who don't know, as someone who's who does a lot of work in the community, Vista has also been facing the same challenges as other cities. So, please vote yes. As Moralda Garcia followed by Cypriano Vargas number 72, followed by Jasmine Via or Villa number 73. Christo

resurrection. Yes. Thank you.

Thank you. Next we'll hear from Cypriano Vargas number 72 followed by Jasmine Via 73 followed by Rose Garcia 74. Times are changing and council members mayor Franklin we look at 2025 and what the city council looks like. The voice of the community has spoken and we have elected people who represent the majority. Back in September, the council gave direction to staff to bring back an ordinance to provide due process safety, which includes know your rights, includes making sure we're outreaching people know uh what is, you know, within our limits as a city. This is not just about immigrants. Mayor Franken, last time I spoke, I also talked about protecting American citizens because what DHS is doing, taking American citizens, is unconstitutional. And I ask you and I'll ask you again. Will you stand up for those US citizens? Will you go to fight for them? These are our residents. When every taxpayer in the city of Vista pays taxes, we're not checking for their immigration status. Yet, they contribute to this economy. They contribute to your salary. They contribute to the well-being of our community. I'm also a school board member and we already seen the impact of these abductions in our community. We've seen a lower increase in attendance. We went from a 97% to now a 94%. Some of our children who are US born are afraid to come to school. Others are going back home to be together with their family members. Regardless of the outcome, shame on what's happening at the federal level. Ultimately, you know, you're not Congress, but you can act and you can make sure that you implement things to make sure that we protect our community, provide due process. What this ordinance does, it doesn't make, you know, a federal agent with a

judicial warrant not be able to come to a city building. If there's a judicial warrant and they're going after somebody with the criminal record, great. Show us the judicial warrant to make sure that they have access to a facility. If they don't, then go to a judge and make that happen. But for me, you know, this is about making sure that when residents come to city hall, when they go to the senior center, when they go to a city facility, that we know that their rights are going to be respected. Earlier today, Mayor Franken, you posted a video and you ended that video with the donation ask. Shame on you for politicizing this. Shame on you for making this about your campaign for the county board of supervisors. My community is not a token that you can pay with. Shame on you.

Shame on you. [cheering]

Jasmine Via 73 followed by a Rose Garcia 74.

Good afternoon. I'm Jasmine Via and I'm a proud member of St. Francis of Aiz. And I say that not because they are telling us or we're being implied what to say or what to vote for, but because we're a big community and because we stand for justice. This isn't an issue that should be taken upon politics. It should be taken and decided with humanity, justice, and listening to what our community is telling you and what we are asking for. I'm thankful that I'm get to stand here for the people that can't, the people that are too scared to be here. We're in Vista. [snorts] Let's not forget our roots. We all have a mother, a father, a daughter, friends, neighbors who take strong leadership roles in this community. [snorts] Sorry, we're generaliz. There's a lot of generalization here. It's happening. How do we know that certain groups of people and that a certain person is a criminal if they don't have due process? [snorts] To call people illegal aliens. To me, it's like hearing that you think my mother [snorts] is an illegal alien. I was lucky enough to have my father drive me around to school and all my sisters. And I just remember that my dad would take us all the time, but I didn't know that it was that he was doing that for her safety. She went through the process and [snorts] luckily she is a resident now. But she has the fear of coming out.

She couldn't be here today because she's too afraid that what if ice comes out? [snorts] There are so many people with our community that have that fear. [snorts] How can they be here and have their own voice? They fear these big groups of like they fear eyes. How are you going to react when you see a group of federal agents that are coming at you that are armed directly without asking you for any identification. They're just racially pro profiling you. Every week I pray again and again for our political leaders and for local leaders like you guys to make the right decision to make the decision not because of what you think but because what the community is asking for for humanity and for justice. Thank you for your time.

Rose Garcia 74 followed by Lilian Serrano 75 followed by Dorothy Martin 76.

My name is Edles Garcia. I am part of my family's first generation born in the United States and proudly raised here in Vista. I am here because I care for my city and because my family taught me that we should always serve our community. I was able to graduate from CSUSM and start my own business in the agricultural field. That's the kind of community that we are and that I want us to continue to be. Fair opportunities for all. I am also a member of the Vanda Erenia Mistka, a local wind ensemble that shares our love of music while at the same time enriching the culture of our city. Today, we joined our neighbors at the rally to show that we are standing as one big multicultural community in Vista. We were not paid to perform and I will gladly show my support once again and without pay. I'm here to ask you to pass the community safety and due process resolution. As someone who has lived in Vista my entire life, I know firsthand the fear immigration enforcement brings to our families. Please stand with us and send a clear message. In Vista, we protect each other and no one in our community should feel alone. Together, let us protect transparency, fairness, and the rights of every family in our community. Gracias. Lillian Serrano 75 followed by Dorothy Martin 76 followed by Andrew Crowd I think it is 77.

Good evening council. My name is Lillian Terrano and I'm a Vista resident in district 2. I'm also the proud daughter of immigrants and I have had the privilege of working with Vista families for many years. I also serve as the as the border policy director at Alliance San Diego. But I want to make it very clear. I'm not getting paid to be here tonight. I'm here because I care for our community and I know the potential that our city has. I'm here once again in strong support of this resolution to protect constitutional and human rights for all Vista residents. Tonight's vote is important and I want to begin by addressing the misinformation that politicians looking for a pay raise have been irresponsibly spre spreading about what is actually before this council. What this resolution actually does is ensures that our city's resources resources are not used to carry out illegal operations by the outofcontrol Department of Homeland Security. As it was already stated by many others, due process is for everyone and the Department of Homeland Security continues to show us that they want to operate outside of the law. This resolution is about BISTA not being part of that. This conser conversation is not about politics. It's about the Constitution, due process, and human rights. This is about making clear that the federal government cannot coers our city into helping them to terrorize our community. Upholding constitutional protections is not optional. It is your responsibility as city leaders. And under international human rights law, it is your obligation to protect human dignity and safety for all your residents. I want to make to take a moment to thank Council Member Fox for meeting with our neighbors. And I hope

that tonight you choose to stand on the right side of history. I also want to thank council members O'Donnell, Contras, and Melendez for listening to our community and for taking your oath, the one that you took when you stood in front of all of us and swear to protect the Constitution, for taking that oath very seriously. It takes courage and leadership to stand up for to protect our constitution and human rights. It is moments like this that real leaders stand apart from ruthless politicians. Tonight, Vista families need you to lead with courage. By voting yes, you will send a very clear message. Vista will stand with the constitution. Vista will st will honor human rights and Vista will protect the dignity and safety of all of us who call this city home. Thank you. Dorothy Martin 76 followed by Andrew Crad 77 followed by Michael Bronner 78.

Thank you so much. My name is Dorothy Martin or Die Martin and I have lived in or on the outskirts of Vista um district 4 since 1970 off and on and I sent an email earlier today to the council and I will just read that now. So, um, regarding the sanctuary city, I'm against opposed to this resolution of sanctuary city policy and, um, I hope that you also oppose it, Councilman. Um, human rights are for all, but due process is only guaranteed in the Constitution for citizens. Local, state, and federal law enforcement should fully cooperate with one another and for all applicable law to combat child sex trafficking, sex trafficking, drug trafficking, coyotes, and other criminal elements in and out of our city. We should trust local law enforcement personnel to balance justice and human compassion in each particular situation as it arises and not to impose blanket one-sizefits-all restrictions on these professionals. This proposed city council resolution takes us backward in combating crime and keeping not only citizens safe, but also legal residents, legal visitors, and undocumented persons. I want good people, peaceful, law-abiding, cooperative people to be safe and undisturbed. But I want bad apples, that is illegal, particularly illegal alien perpetrators of illegal acts to be removed from our city. Any politically motivated legal hindrance to this would be a disservice to children trapped in tra in child tra trafficking and other victims of these perpetrators. The perpetrators are not respecting our laws and should not be shielded from apprehension and prosecution. I would also like to call into question the direct fiscal impact analysis attached to this resolution. I'm reading

in this resolution that materials are to be distributed. A new web page is to be launched. City contracts are to be reviewed by the city attorney and possibly rewritten. Virtual or visual barriers are to be erected against federal law enforcement and immigration enforcement agencies, etc. All of which to me sound like they come with a price tag. This does not even touch on the price tag of the human toll for housing criminal elements in our city. If you do not agree with me, I would hope that you would respond in writing with your rationale so that I can convey it to my fellow my neighbors and help them understand your position. Thank you for your time. [clears throat]

Andrew Kraut 77 followed by Michael Bronner 78 followed by Christine I think it's Brousoe 79.

Good evening Mayor Franklin. Thank you for your service. Council members apologize for the attire. wasn't really expecting to do this, but I felt compelled. Um, wow. How did we get here? Um, I'm hearing so much divisive, inflammatory language in here, and it's, uh, it's disheartening. It's really hard to hear as a [clears throat and cough] pretty much a lifelong resident being here since 1974. And, um, this community has thrived with immigrants of one of my high school classmates spoke earlier, who's an Italian immigrant. She spoke earlier. She didn't talk about immigrating here from from Italy or parents from Italy and going to school without knowing any English. Um, I've got countless friends of various shapes, sizes, and colors, but a lot of Latinos and the Latino community has thrived here. I was a I'm a retired teacher from Vista Unified School District, and the Latino community is thriving in Vista. Um, [clears throat] they're an important part of the community. I know people that are afraid to to go out. They're afraid that they're going to be apprehended. I also know people that have no fear. And one of the people the person one of the people that has fear of being apprehended is my mother-in-law, but she has legal status here. So there's so much misinformation out there that is being used to politicize and use the Latino culture, primarily Latino culture, but it could extend beyond the Latino culture as as weapons. And it's weapons to try to accomplish something. What that is is what we need to determine, what you guys need to determine because we need to pull the veil back and look at this and not have this inflammatory, divisive language continue to divide us and scare people. Because when people are scared, they're able to accomplish things. The other person that isn't afraid to go to work

each and every day is my beautiful wife. She was born in Mexico. She was came here as an illegal immigrant. Went through the process before I met her. So, it wasn't because she married me. Went through the process, became a citizen, and not one day I asked her tonight. I said, "Have you ever ran into immigration at all? Have you ever been?" She said, "Never." So that's me just telling the story, her story, so people in here can start to decompress a little bit, not listen to all the stuff that you're hearing on whatever it is that that's feeding it because it's dividing us. It's scaring you and it's creating a less safe community. This is a strong community. allow these people to do their jobs, but don't throw darts at them and accuse them of things that aren't even happening. I haven't heard of one person that said any immigration raid anywhere in Vista has occurred. So maybe we're overreacting. Thank you for your time.

Michael Bronner, 78, followed by Christine Brisco or Brusso uh 79, followed by Sarah Spinx, 80.

Uh mayor, council members, thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Michael Bronner and I'm the president of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, a company my immigrant grandfather founded over 75 years ago. I want to share a bit of our family story because it connects directly to the values that built our business, the people who helped us grow and why I believe this city has a responsibility to stand firmly for due process and the dignity of our immigrant community. Today, [clears throat] my grandfather, Emanuel Bronner, was a Jewish German soap maker. Before World War II, he saw the writing on the wall. He watched as due process, basic protections, fairness, and the rule of law was steadily eroded in the society around him. He understood personally and painfully what happens when a government chooses fear over fairness, when people are treated as threats instead of neighbors. And when entire communities lose their voice and their rights, he made the difficult decision to leave Germany and that choice ultimately allowed our family to survive. When he came to America, he rebuilt his life from scratch. He believed deeply in human dignity, in the responsibility to stand up for people who are marginalized, and in the idea that we are, in his words, all one or none. That phrase is not just something we print on soap. It shaped how the company grew, who we hired, and how we treat people. And I want to be absolutely clear. The early growth of Dr. Bronners. Our survival and our long-term success was only possible because of the many dedicated employees, including generations of workers from Mexico who poured their skill, heart, and hard work

into the company from the very beginning. Their contributions were essential. They shaped who we are. They are the reason we succeeded. So when we talk about Vista's immigrant community, we are talking about families who have built this city, built businesses like ours, and strengthened every aspect of our civic and economic life. The story of Dr. Bronner is one small example of what is true across our region. Immigrants make Vista stronger, safer, and more prosperous. And that is why due process matters, not as an abstract legal idea, [clears throat] but as a safeguard that protects real people, our neighbors from being denied fairness, from being singled out unjustly, and from having their lives upended without cause or resource or recourse. When due process erodess for one group, it erodess for all of us. My grandfather's story is a reminder of exactly that. Thank you. Sorry. Uh, next speaker is Christine Brusso 79, followed by Sarah Spinx, number 80, followed by Bonnie McCormick, McCormack, uh, number 81, Christine Brusso. [laughter]

Good evening, mayor and council members. Um, I'm here to share concerns regarding the potential designation of Vista as a sanctuary city. I know that's You say that's not what it represents, but I don't know why when we have SB54 you would question needing additional layers. But, uh, first I believe it's important that any decision on this scale be based on transparent data and a clear understanding of what sanctuary policies actually change in practice. In reviewing recent reports, crime statistics, and public safety definitions, it's clear that VISTA residents deserve detailed information on how misdemeanor and felony cases are currently handled and how cooperation with federal agencies might change under a new policy. Second, [snorts] many residents, including myself, want to understand the financial implications. Reports from policy organizations highlight that shifts in cooperation could influence certain federal grant streams. And before moving forward, I believe the public should see a full fiscal analysis. What funds are at risk, what funds are secure, and what the long-term budget effects might be. Third, there might be clarity about the role of outside organizations. Vista residents should know which nonprofits or advoc advocacy groups are participating in shaping the shaping this proposal, what their goals are, and whether these groups are influencing policy decisions or coordinating with city officials and transparency helps build trust on all sides. Fourth, I think safety impact should also be clearly presented with using objective data. I've asked for a multi-year I'm requesting multi-year crime statistics, maps, and case definitions to understand trends, say between 2018 and 2025, whether crime is rising, falling, or

shifting by district, the public should have access to that information before major policy changes are adopted. Lastly, I urge the council to ensure that any policy change considers how it affects all VISTA residents. That includes long-term citizens, families, businesses, and immigrant communities alike. Policies of this magnitude should unify rather than divide and should be based on facts, clarity, and a full accounting of potential consequences. And I'm requesting that you oppose this until all of those are met. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, now we'll be into the 80s. And just for everybody's awareness, we have 108. How many people do we have that have their hands up on Zoom?

30. Oh, three. Okay. Very good. All right. Um, well, let's hear from Sarah Spinx, number 80, then from Bonnie McCormack, 81, and then from Gabrielle Jackson, 82. Is Sarah Spinx here? Not seeing Sarah Spinx, we'll now hear from Bonnie McCormack. Okay, that's me. Thanks for waiting.

Hi. Well, it's good to see everybody here at the council and I've voted for some of you at uh into uh office and so I'm hoping that you will vote no on this amendment. I represent an area from around the courthouse and most of us are property owners and that we have been here for um probably a number of years. Uh I've been here for over uh uh you know 40 years just in this area and so uh of Oceanside and Vista and I have a real I've taught my boys growing up that the law is the law and if you violate it you can lose some of your uh rights. And so one of the things that I really disappointed about and in fact I'm embarrassed to think that you would vote a Vista a sanctuary city. It's very embarrassing to even think that you would consider that because most of us are upright standing citizens and we would like to be able to vi and not uh impair our law enforcement people that are out there on the streets. uh because I had family members that are involved in law enforcement, it does become very difficult to you know have to be hand be you know just sort of saying you know you can't do this or that uh for the law enforcement. It just does not sound right to me as an American citizen. And so, uh, I would like you to, uh, vote no for the sanctuary city, uh, audience. And so that, um, we, uh, you know, have a name that we, for me, the being in Vista for a number of years that it was a very honorable thing to be a part of Vista. But you know what? It's almost becoming to the point from some

of the other things that have happened. This makes only my third time that I've had to have come before the uh council because I felt so deeply about what I'm talking about. And so this comes from the heart. I know a lot of people read a lot of things and sort of uh had a lot of more probably background than I have on um you know stating things but I want you to vote no on this ordinance. Gabrielle Jackson number 82 followed by Ayabal Badar I think it is. 83 followed by Jill Parvin 84.

Good evening. I would like to read to you a letter sent to me by one of my former students. She was in my fourth grade class back in the 90s and she's gone on to graduate from UC Davis and now she works for the county of Los Angeles and uh social uh services working helping children. Miss Jackson, sorry. She put two exclamation points and a wavy underline. I hope you enjoyed the summer. Summer in LA was something else. The weather was pleasant as always, but ice raids made the city more toxic than the smog. The first week weekend week they arrived in LA felt like COVID lockdowns all over again. So many people afraid to even walk to their corner stores. My parents stayed home as much as possible and we sisters and I were constantly checking the citizen app, Next Door app, and social media to see where the raids were happening. The protests were everywhere. While ICE raids have slowed down a bit, and my parents are feeling more comfortable going back to work and daily activities, we're still saying staying vigilant. I'm a citizen now, but my parents only have their permanent resident cards. And ICE doesn't ask questions. Just snatch anyone that's brown. The one we worry about the most is my dad since he's the darker of us all. I won't get into the politics of it all, but it's just so sad and messed up that this is where the country is headed. So much hate. The families I work with also have been impacted. Parents are afraid to attend the visits with their children because they're held in public places, parks, McDonald's, etc. We have to be

creative with maintaining the communication between the families. Please vote yes. Bal Badar 83, Jill Parvin 84, followed by Enriqueeta Medina or Medina 85. Thank you city council members for giving me a chance to speak. I am speaking in favor of this resolution. We have federal agents who are kidnapping, injuring, and causing trauma to all citizens or not. These are these federal agents should be following the law. Yet they don't. Therefore, it follows logically that VISTA should adopt this resolution to protect all people who reside here, non-citizens and citizens alike. Everyone who enters the country has due process and has rights, undocumented or not. This resolution has zero fiscal impact which should which removes the most common barrier to approval and makes this a straightforward decision. It would be wild to not adopt this resolution to reaffirm basic rights guaranteed to all in this country when the federal government is trying to do the opposite. Thank you.

Jill Parvin 84 followed by Enrieta Medina 85 followed by Travis Tibbitz 86.

Good evening. I am so glad to see this item back on the agenda tonight. I don't care what you call it. It is asking for Vista to be a sanctuary city. And I'm totally against it. Your job as council members is to uphold the law. If someone was stealing a car, you would report it to the authorities, wouldn't you? Of course you would. You wouldn't turn a blind eye to it. But you're asking us to turn a blind eye to illegal immigration. My great my grandparents came here from the old country legally [clears throat] [sighs] and let justice run its course. Why is this so different? We want the criminal to do their time for their crime. Please be aware that being a sanctuary city will affect Vista economically by losing federal funds. We cannot afford to lose. not in this economy. You need to look at the long-term, not just the short-term pat on the back. Our city depends on that those federal funds to make ends meet. [snorts] Just do the right thing and vote no tonight for the community service and process resolution or sanctuary city, whatever you want to call it. A pig with lipstick is still a pig. Keep Vista solvent and safe. And remember, your vote tonight will be remembered when your seat comes up for reelection. And we have long memories. Trust me.

Enriqueeta Medina. Is Enriqueeta Medina here? Nope. Okay. Then we'll hear from Travis Tibbitz number 86 and then from Mary Algar 87 and then Simon or Simone 88. Mr. Tibbitz. Thank you, Mayor Franklin. Honor role Mayor Franklin. Uh, city council members, fellow residents, may I would it be appropriate if I just made a a point by addressing the audience? We do ask if you address us. Yeah.

Okay. Um, I just want to say that that uh regardless of the people here that are on the council from different backgrounds, ethnicities, etc., Um, I would never look at immutable characteristics and consider that as something that you wouldn't represent me because I'm white and maybe you're Hispanic or or whatever. And um I think that if we really want a strong community, then I implore everybody in this room and in truly in our great city of Vista, um that the only way we're going to unite is when we stop looking at people as something there of a immutable characteristic and rather we look at as a fellow citizen and a fellow citizen of the United States of America. All right. So, thank you. Um, thank you for this time, too. And, um, if you want more people to become citizens, as I do, and I think that's probably what this is rooted in, um, then passing this resolution will do nothing to reform immigration laws. We need to be putting pressure on Congress to pass immigration reform. I mean, we're wasting all this time tonight on something that really isn't going to do anything except make some people feel better. But in reality, ICE will still come to Vista and they will still assert federal authority as they should constitutionally. But some in this room think that it's going to do a service to the people that have come here. And if we all know why they are here because I would do the same thing. I've said

that many times. I would be in their shoes. If I'm seeking a better life for my family, you damn sure that I would be here. I would be crossing that border if the only way that I could was illegally. But this is not about a heart issue. This isn't about feelings, Miss Contraras. And I have the utmost respect for how you feel and your position and others in this room. But this is about the rule of law. And if we want to change the law, then let's go to Washington and let's make that change there because we know Congress is broken. They don't do anything. They don't get anything done. We need to get rid of the filibuster, which is not constitutional, by the way. It's just a rule.

Thank you, Mr. Tippets. Sorry. Okay. Next is Mary Alger number 87, followed by Simone, 88, followed by Amelio Santos Somaya, 89. Is Mary Alger or Alger here? Not seeing uh Mary is Simone number 88 present.

Good evening council members. My name is Simone. I use pronouns like he, him, and L. Uh No. for important to my city council members here present

that have voted already on this item because quite frankly, mayor, I don't know that we're going to change your mind. But to the three council members, Melendez, Contras, and O'Donnell, I speak to you. I urge you to make sure that you support all components of this resolution because they are important, every single one of them. and to have our backs no matter what happens because we will have your backs if you have our backs too. And we need you to be strong. Now is the moment to be strong. For anyone who understands immigration and our system, we know that there isn't a checks and balance system. DHS is going to get exponential amounts of money. In addition to that, it is being led by individuals who have absolutely no respect for people's human rights. And it's not a feeling that is simple facts.

Thank you very much. Next speaker is Amelio Santos Somaya number 89 followed by Noami Estamos 90 followed by Armando Artis 91. Isilio Santaaya present. Not seeing Ailio. We will now hear from Noami Estamos or Estanos. Is Ailio here? Not seeing Ailio. Number 90. We'll call on Armando Ortiz. Is Armando Ortiz here? Not seeing or Armando. Isidra Alvarado here? Isidra Alvarado. I see somebody getting up after uh Miss Alvarado will be Yasmin Ortiz. Nope. Uh they're leaving. Uh is Cedra Alvarado not present? Okay. Yasm mean Ortiz. Is Yasmin Ortiz present? Uh do we have staff in the overflow room that can check to see if we're now on number 93? And we'll we'll hold uh these cards that I've read aside. See if anybody shows up from the overflow.

Franklin, do you mind listening to the community instead of posting on neighbor next door?

I'm sorry. Could you please not disrupt the meeting? I'm going to have to issue you a warning not to disrupt the meeting. Uh next, our next speaker is Jim Reagan, number 94. I see Mr. Regabach in the chamber. Would you please come forward? And following Mr. Regenbach will be number 95 Josiah Stool followed by number 96 Hoffita Sarapin. Thank you. There are many reasons to vote yes on the resolution. I want to focus on safety and support for law enforcement. The federal government is making a mockery of law enforcement. Uh the entire law enforcement community is stained when federal agents are masked in civilian vehicles. no ID, escalating, antagonizing, terrorizing communities. Imagine if the if our sheriff's department did did tactics like that. You do something about it. And this resolution is a small way to push back on the harmful actions of the federal government. These t these also these tactics make it harder for the sheriff's department to keep the community safe and they draw re resources away from things that matter. If you care about the commu about community safety and you care about the law enforcement community, you'll vote yes on this resolution. Also, being in the country without proper credentials is not a criminal act. So, if you're calling undocumented people criminals just for being undocumented, that's not true on a human level and a legal level. I also want to thank council member O'Donnell for hosting a town hall recently to try to explain the details of the of the resolution. Unfortunately, it was hijacked by the mayor who continuously interrupted and shouted people down who were trying to speak. And now he's on Next Door during the meeting posting about how paid protesters are here hijacking this meeting.

Absolutely shameful. Shameful and disgusting. And he's doing it for campaign clicks cuz he's running for a higher office. You're not going to intimidate me. Josiah Stle 95. Is Josiah the Cole here?

Josiah the Cole. Did we find anybody? Yasmin Ortized Alvarado going last chance. Armando Ortiz or Naomi Estamos or Ameilia Santos Somaya. Were any of those people here? Okay. Hovita Sarapin is Hovita still here. There you are. After Hova will be Elizabeth Flores number 97 and then Anoelle Harkin number 98. Consilio is Miss Emanos. Imigoshos. foreign.

Gracias, Ovita. Next is Elizabeth Flores, number 97, followed by Annoel Harkin. Angel, sorry, I couldn't read the letters there. Uh, followed by Tatiana Landram, number 99.

Okay. A constituent stated that immigrants are the reason why his son can't buy a home. That's absolutely hyperbolic. The housing crisis is not caused by immigrants, but by banks and private equity firms buying single family homes and driving up the market. An anti-marxist constituent said that our education is failing us and to look back on history. But if I learn anything from history, I know that scapegoating and the gradual militarization against a minority leads to violence. The entire world condemned Germany's hunting down of a scapegoat. Condemned going into someone's home and taking them and then sending them to a second location. We all agree that the ideologies and the processes that caused this stain on history holds no merit or value to our society. Today, people fleeing violence and pro and poverty are being sent to prisons in Venezuela. Back black citizens are being zip tied and stripped naked along with their children. looking at things long-term, like another constituent stated, this shows how this won't just affect the immigrant community, but this will spread to everybody else. Once ICE is allowed to come into people's homes, once a right is taken from the people, it's going to be even harder to get it back. Liberty once lost is lost forever. So, please consider passing this resolution. Next is uh Angel Harkin followed by and please uh hold your applause per our ordinance. I'm required as the presiding officer to ask you to please refrain from making any noise that interrupts the speakers of any kind. Please have respect for the process and

the speakers. I've been respectful. I let everybody speak. Please be respectful and be silent while others are speaking. [snorts] Mr. Harkin.

Good evening, city council. My name is Anila Harkin. I'm a Vista resident for over a decade. My kids go to school and are involved in sports here in Vista, and I am also a member of St. Francis Church. I'm here urging you to vote yes to this resolution of safety and due process. The fourth and 14th amendment of the US Constitution stipulates no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process. The constitution differentiates between persons and citizens. In this case of due process to be extended to all persons who reside inside of the country. What we've been experiencing across the country doesn't doesn't reflect our core values of justice and freedom. By allowing people to be stripped away of their constitutional rights based on their color of their skin or the language they speak, people are being kidnapped regardless of status out of their cars, homes, schools, and communities. It is shameful. I know kidnap is an extreme word to use, but it's warranted due to its extreme infringement on our Bill of Rights due to the lack of probable cause for the stop, illegal search and seizure, due to a warrantless stop, and lack thereof due process. I am here urging you to vote yes to this resolution, not only because it is morally right, but because it aligns with the spirit of the Constitution, affording due process to all people. Thank you. Okay. Whatever disruption is happening in the chamber out there, uh could the deputies please clear that area? As I asked earlier, if you're going to have conversations, could you please remove them from the building? We can hear the conversations happening in the antichamber. Those of us up here on the

dis can hear it more than you can because of the concave nature of the ceiling. It carries all the sound from the back of the room right up here. And if you want us to hear what you're saying, then we need everybody to please maintain silence. It's not that much to ask to be respectful of the other people speaking. Next is Tatiana Landram, followed by Lupita Hernandez, who's number 100, followed by Maria Valdeinos, number 101. Miss Landram, repeat that. Okay. Uh, not seeing Tatiana Landram. Uh, Miss Hernandez, please go ahead.

Thank you, Mayor Franklin and council members. My name is Lupita Hernandez. I'm a resident of District 1. I'm also a proud immigrant and UCLA alum. I stand before you in strong support of D1 Community Safe and Due Process. and I urge the council to adopt all of its four provisions. These policies are not just compassionate. There are evidence-based, practical, and essential to making our city safer for everyone. There is a widespread misconception that crime and immigration are intrinsically linked, but research shows otherwise. So, let's please vote yes on D1 and take a meaningful step towards keeping our community united and secure. Actively disseminating know your rights information and creating a dedicated web page will give our community access to accurate and essential guidance. Prohibiting federal immigration enforcement in non-public areas of city-owned or city controlled properties without a judicial warrant upholds due process and maintains trust in our local institutions including clauses in future city contracts that prevents disclosure of sensitive and or personal information unless required by the state or federal laws adds necessary safeguards. Likewise, ensuring that city itself Likewise, ensuring that the city itself does not share sensitive or personal data with immigration enforcement agencies protects some of us our most v vulnerable residents. These four measures are not only are not about ignoring the rule of law. They are about ensuring due process, protecting civil rights, and promoting a safer, more inclusive community. By supporting D1, we can send a strong message that Vista is a safe place where families regardless of their immigration status can feel safe, supported, and like they belong. Thank you once again, Mayor Franklin and council members for your consideration.

Thank you. Uh Maria Valdinos, is Maria Valdinos here? Number 101. How about Homera Kusafi? Is Homera here? You sorry I can't read the letters.

All good. I don't have the clearest of writing. Um good evening. My name is Hamayra Yusfi. I'm with the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans, PANA. I want to thank you um Council Member Kraas for bringing this important discussion today to Vista Chambers. At Pano, we are part of a legal immigration hub where our attorneys receive calls every day from community members across the county who are calling in distress. They were asking where is my family member? You where did they went to work, they didn't come back. They went to go drop off their kids and were apprehended by immigration enforcement. They were doing everyday things and now they have been abducted and the entire family is in distress. This is something that is very important for us to understand. We are talking about entire communities are being harmed right now [clears throat] and it is time for bold leadership. We need you all as city council members to understand the pain. I want to thank everyone here today that came. It takes so much bravery because there is so much fear in all of our communities. People are scared to go to birthday parties, to congregate, to participate in democracy, which is our due rights because we have seen what the federal administration is doing to all of us. Not it's not only one community. It is all of us that are being impacted. and you as council members represent all of your res residents in Vista. And so we are asking you for this bold leadership. We are asking you all to do the bare minimum to make sure that the limited resources you all have as city

council members is not spent to support a rogue regime that is harming our community members every single day. Do your part in this. Stand with due process. Stand with democracy. make sure that our resources are not being ex spent in ways that do not support the values of this city and also make sure that folks know their rights. That is basic. Let's just admit that we are not asking for anything else here tonight. So I I hope that you all understand that this is the first step. There's much more we can do to support immigrant communities. Um we can make sure that our data protect is protected. we can make sure that resources are actually spent to support all Vista residents including immigrant families. But today I want to make sure that this is step this is step one and that we pass it. Thank you.

Mary Pierce number 103 followed by Yasmine Hernandez 104 followed by Martha Moran 105. Any of these individuals present if you could raise your hand. Uh okay. was Mary Mary Pierce. Very good. Go ahead and come on down. Be ready if you heard your name called.

So, I didn't uh plan to speak tonight, but um I moved here a few years ago to be with my six grandchildren and just recently hearing about a sanctuary city made me come down here. And after listening for a couple hours, I thought maybe I should get up and speak. I remember about two decades ago hearing a story in San Francisco sanctuary city back then. A lady, mom, husband or wife, her husband and two sons were killed. Mistaken identity kind of thing. They were shot by somebody who had been a man that had been deported three times and come back and had been known to law enforcement. So, she lost her entire family. And I remember thinking at the time, my kids were still home and I thought that could be my husband and two daughters and I would lose my entire family. Now, I understand that citizens commit crimes as well. But if it's by somebody who should not have been here, that's one too many. So, my question is, if the local cops here pick up someone for a DUI or robbing somebody or carjacking or whatever, do they just get let out and go if they're not here legally or is that somebody that's going to get sent back home? Because if they're let out and they run over my grandkids, that's that should have never happened. You know, if you if you have a party at your house and you have invited guests and they're there, but somebody shows up that's not invited and something bad happens,

wouldn't have happened if uninvited people didn't come. this. I have compassion. I'm But I'm not okay if people that are here commit a crime and then we don't turn them over to the to the feds to have them go home. We already have enough people that commit crimes that we can't send out. So my big concern is what are you going to do if people are here in the first place and we don't know who they are and then they do go do something that breaks the law. We're just going to say okay. So, I hope that you realize we have rights, too. And it's your job to uphold the law. And anybody that has a situation like the story I said in San Francisco, what happened to their rights? Their family separated forever.

Thank you. Next is Yasmine Hernandez, number 104, followed by Martha Moran, 105. Are either of those individuals here? Yes. Was that your name that was called? No. Uh Martha. Uh oh. Martha Moran. Oh, please come forward. So, Yasmin Hernandez is not here. [clears throat] And we'll hear from Martha Moran number 105, followed by Victor Mendoza, number 106, followed by Arcela Nunes 107. Good evening. Mayor,

go ahead. Just talk right into the microphone. Good evening, Major Franklin. I'm here because I received an email of you and I'm here because we're going about to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. I don't understand how can we celebrate Thanksgiving Day. My ancestors were here before any other race were here. We welcome you. We welcome all of them. How are you going to celebrate with your family and teach them about Thanksgiving Day? I'm not here to defend criminals. Everybody who commits a crime, it needs to pay. Citizen undocumented, they need to pay for the crimes. But hey, I'm the illegal person who walks into this building and I asked for an IT number and it's granted to me that day. Nobody called me criminal, nobody called me illegal. They grant me a number. Why? I understand that I have obligations with this country and if I comply with the rules to the best of my knowledge, I may be granted one day the chance to become legalized in this country. So, how do I

get called criminal, rapist, drug dealer? I get to work at 5:00 in the morning. I go home. I don't make a life now money. I still do my house chores. Please give the people a chance. Do your job. Keep this community safe. I don't want to call again 911 because we need service. And the sheriff gets there five hours later. Business get wrapped. People is doing drugs. Kids get run over when they're crossing to go to school. People get

Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Victor Mendoza, number 106, followed by Arcela Nunes 107, followed by Karina Arin 108. Hello, my name is Victor Mendoza and I'm from the sewing seeds of dignity co coalition and I'm a proud child of immigrants. I speak in full support of the community safety and due process resolution. I want to first off by I want to first off start by saying that we were not paid to be here. John Franklin community showed up because we care for this city. We care for the immigrant communities here in Vista. They are what make this city great. We have seen the impact of immigration enforcement in this city that seeks to terrorize these neighborhoods. There are many of your constituents, John Franklin, the people you are paid to serve that are afraid to go outside. And when I look at you, I do not see a leader after watching your Tik Toks and seeing how you have criminalized the people that pay for your own salary. And I see how you speak to your colleagues. And I see how you speak to this beautiful community here. I see a man that has no single ounce of empathy. I see a man full of hate. I see a racist. Shame on you.

Area Nunes number 107 followed by Karina Harkin 108. And then we're going to start hearing from people on Zoom. In Gupta on Zoom, please be ready. And then the caller ending in 2494. and then Lev Golad, if you could be ready when your name is called. Arecel Nunes.

Thank you. My buenas no. Um, good evening, night everyone. I am Marcela Nunes. I am part of Univers. We are a civic uh and education organization serving North County. I am also a member of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium. Uh most importantly, I am a person and I've been working with many hundreds of families impacted by immigration enforcement. some undocumented, some permanent residents, some DACA recipients, and even some citizens. As I sat here this evening, I realized what a special night today has been. This is truly an excellent exercise in civic participation. You and I may not agree philosophically on some of the issues that are being discussed. You and I might come from different worlds, speak different languages. But I believe that the resolution being discussed and presented today really has opened up an important dialogue. This resolution is a reminder to every single one of us of the importance of teaching each other and learning from one another.

the importance of civic education, the important of US history, of indigenous people's history, the importance of learning about the supreme law of the land, and because the Constitution applies to every single corner of the 50 states, the entire nation, it applies eyes here in our communities. And it also sitting here uh and listening to people and seeing this night bring together people who are very diverse. I'm reminded that this is what democracy looks like in 2025. that this means all of us coming together. We are America.

We are one people. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Karina Harkin, number 108.

Well, it's hard to follow that, but good evening. I wasn't going to speak, but hearing so many has given me the strength to overcome my dislike of public speaking. I'll keep it short and to the point. My family is deeply rooted here. We're homeowners. Our kids are student in the districts. They're involved in sports with Tiffany's hoop club. We're members of St. Francis Church. I can sit here and tell you an anecdote of an immigrant that's been impacted by our draconian federal immigration laws. And someone else can come up here and tell you their stories for why they have negative views on immigrants. But at the end of the day, statistics and data speak volumes. Again and again, research demonstrates that communities with higher immigrant populations tend to have lower crime rates. It's actually lower than US-born citizens. Like many others have stated before me. Speaking of crime, I've heard many speak of law and order. The supreme law of the land is the Constitution. Stand by the Constitution and its bill of rights that applies to everyone regardless of status and vote yes. If none of that can shift your position to support the resolution, well, we all know money talks. Contrary to popular belief, immigrants, yes, even undocumented ones, pay into a tax system that many will never reap the benefits from. And I don't mean that they pay that 8.25% sales tax. I mean they do their taxes on their income with something called an ITN. In 2023, they paid 89.8 8 billion in federal, state, and local taxes. So I ask, put people in and vista above the national political clown show and vote yes.

Okay. Well, no. Got a zoom. Is in Gupta available in Gupta? Can you hear us? Yes, I am. Can you hear me? Yes, please go ahead.

Yeah. Good evening, council members. My name is Nalan Gupta and I'm the managing policy director at the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial counties. We fully support the Vista community safety and due process resolution which provides critical safeguards to the people of Vista and reflects the city's commitment to safety, inclusion, and justice for all in a time of heightened immigration enforcement nationwide. This resolution is an important step in standing with immigrants, people of color, and the broader Vista community. We support this resolution because it seeks to educate Vista residents about their legal rights during interactions with law enforcement. We also strongly support the provisions that prohibit federal law enforcement from accessing non-public areas of city-owned properties without a judicial warrant and that restrict the sharing of personal information with federal immigration authorities. City resources should be used to uplift and strengthen our communities, not to tear families apart. The safeguards in this resolution will help ensure that Vista residents feel secure in their own city. We urge the council to pass this critical resolution and furthermore consider additional protections for Vista residents to increase transparency and accountability, including establishing reporting requirements to track federal immigration enforcement operations within the city and any city cooperation with such operations. Thank you. Next is the caller with phone number ending in 2494. After that will be Lev Golad. After that will be Bradley Zuniga. Any of those is caller 2494 available? Are they still? Yeah. Caller 2494.

Hello. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Yes, please. Yes, please go ahead.

Okay. Thank you. Sorry. Um hello. My name is Vanessa Melendres and I'm with the Filipino Workers Center of Southern California. Uh we have an office in Vista and we represent Filipino caregivers and home care workers taking care of our elderly um here in Vista and across Southern California. Before I address the board, I just would like to address the room. One, um I'd urge the room to question where they get their news from. as news shows are meant to uh create fear in order to get views. That's how they make money. Don't believe everything you hear or question it at least. Two, most of these people who are here without status are not criminals, but they're here for a better life. They pick food. They take care of seniors in senior home care facilities. They don't traffic kids. That's Epstein and the wealthy, apparently. Uh three, Oakland and San Francisco have high crime rates due to extreme income inequality that both of these cities suffer from. There is data that shows high income inequality and poverty of desperation, poverty causes desperation and that causes crime, not immigration status. Okay. Now to address the board, uh due to increased funding for DHS and immigration enforcement, employers are actually feeling more emboldened to take advantage of immigrant workers and um violate their workers rights. We're seeing an increase in wage cases going under reported due to fears of retaliation from employers. So, people would rather get paid $100 a day for 24 hours of work without a break than face the potential reality of their employers re uh retaliating against them. All workers, regardless of their immigration status, deserve dignity and respect in their workplace. So, I would urge the vote uh the board to vote yes on the community safety and due process resolution. Thank you so much. Next,

we'll hear from Lev Golad, followed by Bradley Zuniga, followed by Sarah Spinx. Is Lev Golad available? Lev, can you hear us? Hi. Yes, I am. Please go ahead.

Hello. My name is Lev. I am an immigrant. Oo, scary. Uh, I'm speaking in favor of the resolution on public safety. As a Jew, I echo the sentiments of Dr. Bronner regarding the importance of due process. Like Dr. Bronner and his grandfather, I'm living the American dream. After coming to the US as a we Jewish lad, I went on to graduate from UCLA Berkeley and now I run my own business. I want others to live that American dream, too. That requires due process and the rule of law. The Trump era is going to end one day. We need public safety and we need trust in the police if we're going to have public safety. If the local police are seen getting in bed with ICE, that trust will be eroded. In the long run, enabling local police to collaborate with ICE will destroy public safety. The very thing that so many people here are very committed to protecting. ICE is a lawless agency. They have no ties to our community, and their violent rampage does not make anyone safe. ICE feels big and scary right now, but if you side with ICE, you're going to be on the wrong side of history. Finally, a note to the mayor. You're not even good at bullying people on social media. Maybe you should learn from Gavin Newsome. Thank you.

Bradley Zuniga, followed by Sarah Spinx, followed by Barbara Garcia. Is Bradley Zuniga available? Bradley Zuniga, you there? Uh, hi. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, please go ahead.

Perfect. My name is Bradley and I'm a Vista resident in District 4. I am here tonight to urge this council to vote yes on item D1. This safety and due process resolution will send a clear message to federal agents that Vista knows what rights their community has and will require that all federal agencies operate in alignment with the Constitution. This resolution puts our community safety first and stands up against the blatant racism that the federal government is enforcing because injustice for one means injustice for all. It is clear that council members are still unaware of what this resolution is and uneducated on the impact that it will have on our community members. Instead of taking time to educate himself tonight, Mayor Franklin has used his time to post on his favorite app next door. Your constituents before you have volunteered their time tonight will his council choose to respect them. Not know what this resolution is u before you regards. I would urge you to uh present a motion next month to establish Vista as a dedicated sanctuary city as this is what seems close to your heart, but it does not apply to the resolution before you tonight. I urge my community to play close attention to your council members actions and how they vote tonight. A vote yes on this item is a vote against racism and defending the Constitution. Members who vote against the resolution are choosing to defend racism and violence in your communities and choose to value the police more than our immigrant community. I urge this council to vote yes on this resolution unedited and in its entirety to keep this community together to stand up for human rights and most importantly get off of Next Door. Sarah Spinx, followed by Barbara Garcia, followed by Julia uh or Julia Castillo. Sarah Spinx, go ahead.

Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, we can.

Okay. Good evening. I had to go home because I'm a little under the weather, but I'm grateful for the ability to call in over Zoom. I wanted to express my support for this resolution this evening and hope that you all adopt it tonight. Also because this discussion goes to the heart of who we are as a community and whether or not we uphold the principles of due process for all people as guaranteed by our constitution. In the days leading up to this meeting, Mayor Franklin has posted a series of online statements that raise serious concerns. The tone and content of these posts suggest a misunderstanding or a disregard for the constitutional requirement of due process. When an elected official publicly undermines these protections, it erodess trust and endangers the dignity and safety of many residents. In fact, he's as many people just mentioned, he's posting right now as he's supposed to be chairing this meeting and we all pay taxes for you to do this job.

So, I would hope you would take it that seriously. Um, based on your recent public commentary, it appears that the values you're expressing are fundamentally misaligned with the values of fairness, inclusivity, and respect for due process that this community is built on. If your deeply held beliefs do not align with the constitutional responsibilities of serving this city and our community and all our neighbors, including your duty to uphold due process for all of its residents, then I urge you to seriously reflect on whether your current role is the right place for you. Vista deserves representatives whose actions and beliefs align with the community they serve, who take their job seriously and aren't posting online while they should be serving us. Due process is not optional. It is not selective. It applies to every person in Vista, regardless of background or immigration status. Your words matter, your conduct matters, and your commitment to the Constitution must be unwavering. Vista deserves leadership that protects all of its residents, not rhetoric that puts any group at risk. And I want you to know that you are also always welcome to a piece of pizza. So if you want to post about it online, just come over and ask for a piece. Have a great night. Thank you.

Barbara Garcia is next on Zoom. Hello elected officials and my community. My name is Barbara Garcia. I want to start off by thanking my district council member, Council Member Fox, for taking the time to connect prior to this town hall. I appreciate the respect and thoughtfulness in that exchange and I value that ongoing dialogue within our community and district. I know we discussed this resolution in detail and I understand that you don't believe it changes anything but for many families in Vista, especially immigrant, brown, and black families, the clarity of local policy does change something, but it changes whether they believe their city is a resource or a risk. This resolution isn't about stopping federal actions. It's about defining local boundaries, what Vista will and will not participate in. And when residents know that their own city will not funnel them into a system that terrifies them, they are far more likely to engage with public services, which makes our community safer. Even if federal agencies do what they do, Vista can still choose consistency, transparency, and trust. For many families, that clarity is the impact. Thank you again to Council Member Contras, to Melendez, and O'Donnell for last vote. Let's keep this consistent and progress. And for um mayor, I still got pizza back here for you. I'm in the overflow room and we got donuts now. If you would like one, let us know. I am a free volunteer and the pizza is free.

Thank you. Have a good night, y'all.

Julia Castillo is next. Please, if you're in the C chambers, don't speak over the other speakers. Please maintain the query of the chamber. Julia Castillo. Is Julia Castillo available on Zoom? Can you hear us, Julia? She's still connected. Julia Castillo. Julia Castillo, can you hear us? Let's hear from Paola Ellescus. Paola Elascus.

Hi there. Good evening. I'm Paola. I'm a resident of district 3 here in Vista. Um I am here urging city council to vote yes on item D1. Um we've heard a lot of the stories and the impacts of the current uh federal administration's activities on family members. I have known personally of um families asking me to go uh buy groceries on their behalf because they are afraid to go outside. Now if we cannot reckon at least with the emotional impact do at least reason logically here with um with this ice in itself. It is written that these type of departments um and entities can exist constitutionally but the things that the that ICE are doing is not constitutional. Has been found that they have violated the fourth, fifth and 14th amendment. They have also used deceitful tactics such as posing as police in our neighborhoods. How can we allow this? How can our mayor, our councils allow that they are that there are federal agents posing as our local police enforcement. Also, ICE has been uh known to use um forms that are not authorized for entry and also racial profiling all in line with violating the 14th amendment. All in all, it does pose risk for the city of Vista if ever and it is known that ICE has unlawfully detained uh folks and people in um cells and those counties in those cities have been sued. So if anything, Mayor Franklin, please do reason logically and consider your

decision tonight. Thank you everybody. Is Julia Castillo? Julia Castillo. She's still connected. Julia Castillo, last opportunity. Julia Castillo on Zoom. Are you there? Okay, we're going to uh that was our 116th speaker. We're going to now close the opportunity for public comment and um I'm going to make a few remarks. It is inescapably clear to me that the small minority of viewpoint is represented amongst those who were bust here paid for by the San Diego organizing project with major funding from Governor JB Pritsker and our San Diego County tax dollars. You know what? You know what? We can clear the chambers and you can listen from the overflow room because I was respectful when you spoke. If you're going to interrupt me or the other speakers, then we can clear the chambers. Okay? If you're not going to respect the decorum of our council meeting, then we can ask you to leave and you can listen from the overflow room.

Okay?

You can either be respectful of our meeting or you can leave. You know what? It's already 9:55 and if you're not going to be quiet and respectful, then we can take a break. Would you guys like that or would you like to be silent, respectful the way we were when you spoke? If there's one more outburst, we're going to take a 15-minute break. It has become inescapably clear to me that the individuals that support this resolution in fact support an open border. They support an end to the concept of citizenship at large. They support the end of the enforcement of our laws, the Immigration and Nationality Act, which was signed into law by Dwight Eisenhower and last amended significantly by Jimmy Carter. These are laws that have been on the books for 70 years. Our federal law enforcement have enforced these laws during Democrat and Republican administrations alike. Barack Obama, who was called the deorter chief, deported 3.2 million individuals. Joe Biden, during his four-year administration, deported 1.4 million. Donald Trump has deported 575,000. What has changed is the normalization of attacking our federal law enforcement officers, both verbally and physically. physically intervening with their work, following them and reporting publicly the location of their whereabouts to impede their actions. Now, let's get one thing straight once and for all. For all of those who said that I was somehow misleading the community about whether this is a sanctuary policy, go ahead and Google with me the definition of a sanctuary city. It's a municipality that limits its cooperation with federal immigration authorities. I

think one of the supporters of this resolution quoted exactly that definition tonight. This definition, quote, prohibits federal law enforcement personnel from conducting enforcement activities in non-public areas of city-owned or city-controlled properties unless federal enforcement have a valid judicial warrant. Our current policies do not speak to admitting law enforcement to our facilities. This absolutely limits federal law enforcement and therefore it clearly fits with the definition. Now, the proponents of sanctuary policies are the ones that named them sanctuary policies. So, I'm you'll forgive me if I'm confused as to why the council members that bring this item and support it are so afraid that it be known that it's a sanctuary city policy. Maybe because sanctuary policies are well known to the public and they are not liked consistently. And you can laugh all you want about my next door polls, but there are now 1,500 members of this community that have spoken out and said consistently by three quarters that they do not support sanctuary policies. And I would say for those that said the voters are paying attention, they are paying attention. And while there may not be as many of them that showed up tonight as those who were bust here for free pizza to speak about something that's contrary to the interest of the people of Vista, the continued charge of racism. You have called me and the people I represent racist without knowing who we are or what we believe or who our friends are in our community. I saw a lot of immigrants who came tonight to say that they came here lawfully and they believe that we should enforce our laws and they don't believe

that we should thumb our nose in the eyes of those who swore an oath. And we had people here like Martha Alvarado talked about swearing her oath to uphold the Constitution. But let's be very clear. Those who would support this measure make obvious that they have no respect for the men and women of federal law enforcement agencies who swore an oath to uphold the constitution to enforce the due process rights that were quoted here so many times tonight from the constitution. The constitution does require due process and every person will receive it. They have and they will. But it is not the purview or the jurisdiction of this city council to conduct due process review of the federal government. It is the purview of federal courts and federal judges to review the actions of federal law enforcement. The idea that we're going to pass a resolution in the hall of the Vista City that's going to limit federal law enforcement and therefore somehow, as was indicated by so many speakers, quote, protect individuals from deportation. You do all know that that's false. Everyone who said that this measure would protect any person from being deported, I hope you understand the falseness of what you've said. This would simply limit federal authorities access to our city facilities. It will not limit in any way the actions of federal law enforcement. No, to the controversy to the to the to the to the contrary. What we are doing is identifying the city of Vista which will now be added to the administration's list of sanctuary cities and we will now be targeted the federal funding that we receive as a city in jeopardy because of this policy. when staff's own work indicates never in 61 years as a city since 1963 have we

ever had an enforcement action inside the facilities of our city. This is a solution in search of a problem that has never occurred and it is an affront to every one of our local police and sheriff's deputies to our state troopers to all state and federal law enforcement. It says that we do not trust you. We do not trust you to uphold your oath to defend our constitutional rights. That is exactly what this says. I have faith in our federal law enforcement and I know that our local, our state, our federal law enforcement sometimes make mistakes. I know that. We all know that and it's unfortunate when it happens. But we have a system of checks and balances in this country through our judicial process to review the actions of the executive to hold the executive accountable and to remedy the violations of due process. We've seen that play out in the last 12 months. I do have faith in the US Constitution. I have faith in the laws of our nation. It was mentioned that the constitution is the supreme law of the land. But what was not read is the sentence after that. It says the Constitution of the United States and the laws made pursuant there too are the supreme law of the land. So we do not have a right to a bridge federal law as a council. Now I have some questions I want to ask of our city manager and I'm sorry to put you on the spot, Mr. city manager, but how do you do do you feel as a city manager that the resolution of the city council is policy that's binding on the behavior and actions of city employees?

Yes, it is binding policy. So, this will bind the behavior of city employees. And how would you propose to punish Vista City employees who run a foul of this new provision? and may accidentally allow some federal personnel access to non-public areas. What sanction would you impose? Would you terminate those employees? Would you write them up? It would. It creates a conundrum, doesn't it? Would be a personal matter.

Yeah, it's a bit of a rhetorical issue, rhetorical question, but the reality is we're now going to have to promulgate some rules again to punish people for doing something that's never happened. A lot of talk about sewing fear. Where was all this talk when 3.2 million people were being deported under Barack Obama? Who is being called the deorter chief? I want to thank James the president. You had your opportunity to speak. Please be silent. James uh I think it was Amador who was here tonight. Came and uh supported me. wore a nice sign uh recently at one of my outings and uh he said that John Franklin hates Latinos because I support enforcing the law and I told him about Barack Obama. In fact, I showed him a video of President Barack Obama saying that he would deport criminal aliens. And I asked James Amador, who was here, is James still here? I asked James, I said, "James, do you think that Barack Obama also hates Latinos?" And he said on video, you can watch it on my YouTube. He says, "Yes." So, you know, when you come leveling the charge of racism against Barack Obama even and you lump me in with that, and I do not hate Latino people. I do not hate brown or black people. It is hateful, hateful to accuse your neighbors of hate without knowing their heart. It is wrong. It's wrong. I believe that our immigrants are the future of our country because they prove that you can come to this country with nothing and in the space of one generation you can achieve the American dream. You can work hard, you can own a home, you can own a business, you can send your kids to school and you can achieve things in this country even

having come here not being able to speak the language or having any money to your name and you can achieve the most amazing things. I believe in the promise of this country. I believe this is the greatest country in the history of the world. And all of the accusations that are made are all disproven every time an immigrant comes here and succeeds through sure will of determination and proves the American dream. So what I'm hearing repetitively is we do not like the federal law. We didn't speak out when Obama enforced the federal law. didn't speak out when Biden enforced the federal law, but now we've come to speak out because we don't like the law. The border is finally closed. And so, we're here to say that we don't want the laws enforced anymore. Well, whether you like the law or not, it's the law. And you know, I think that we are called biblically to speak out. And I want to say thank you because I agree with what was said by our faith leadership from St. Francis. The person to the right and to the left of us, whether they are here legally or illegally, they are our brother. And I believe the same thing. And in the faith community, it is your calling to treat them as your brother and to lift them up no matter what. Not to ask what their status is. It's your job to minister to them, to feed them, to heal them, to love them. But the Bible and Jesus teachings were not to ignore the civil authority or the law either. We were called biblically to advocate when we felt that laws were immoral. And so I recognize you being here tonight is part of that calling and I appreciate you being here to do that. I wish that you would engage us in a productive dialogue. But the idea that we're going to ignore the laws and we're going to live in a

lawless society. Do you really think? Does anybody here really think that that benefits you? Why is America the greatest country in the history of the world? One reason because of the rule of law. Because we enforce all of the laws consistently without fear, without racism, without regard for where you've come from. That is what makes America a great country. The lack of the rule of law is what caused so many of the countries that are immigrants who have come to America. It's what's destroyed the nations that so many have come from. So you can hold up your signs all you want, Council Member Contrarus, which is rude. You can do that while while your fellow council members are speaking. But let me tell you, your call to ignore the law, your call to impugn the credibility and integrity of our law enforcement officials, the community does not agree with you. the fact that free pizza and a bus brought 100 people here tonight. Don't confuse that because the community will speak and they will have their turn. That's that's your warning. Please do not disrupt the meeting again. Okay. I'm going to at this time I'm going to ask the council to vote no on this item and I'm going to recognize council member O'Donnell. Wow.

Pardon? May I ask a point of information of the city attorney? I have a quick question regarding the procedure for taking a break. Uh I understand it's you know important for the chair to maintain decorum of the chambers. Uh but it's my understanding that in order to go into recess that there needs to be a vote or at least a second on that. Could you confirm if uh if if it was a just a general recess? Yes. The uh we would you the presiding officer should ask the council if they you know if there's a majority that wants to take a recess if it was for a disruption uh as the presiding officer the mayor could then uh call a recess so that the chamber could be cleared and the disruption handled.

Thank you for that clarification. Is that okay if we proceed without disruptions? Oh and absolutely. And um I did want to note that we are about certain other council member is yeah if council member O'Donnell you're aware that we have a time certain end so I just I'm willing to make a motion to extend the meeting that 30 minutes. I'll third that. Do you have any other questions? Is is there a desire to just vote on that right now and get out of the way? Uh Council Council member O'Donnell is recognized. Thank you. Council member O'Donnell is recognized.

Okay. First off, thank you to the entire community who came out today. Uh I also want to thank the students from Rancho Winnav Vista High School who spoke. I had an opportunity to speak with them earlier this afternoon. And so this idea that it's not impacting our communities, I will tell you, is blatantly incorrect and wrong. I promised a lot of people that I would maintain composure this evening and not get upset, but there have been a lot of things that have happened in the last eight weeks that generally pissed me off that happened from somebody on this DAS. I will touch on them but I'm going to leave it at that. I want to start by saying somebody one of the speakers said God will remember. That was the opening line and I could not agree more because there is a fallacy of where anything sanctuary and I'm going to use air quotes on that policies came from. They didn't come from democratic cities. They came from churches. They came from churches in the early 80s when we had Guatemalan refugees and Al Salvadorans coming seeking refuge when their when their families were being murdered and taken away from their communities. They came to the United States and asked churches to protect them. And then cities started adopting those policies to try and work with the church. So when God will remember, yes, he will. Because churches and people of faith were the ones that took people in that started this entire process. I also want to point something out because I did a lot of research on this. Uh, whatever you want to call it, sanctuary city or not, since 2016, the beginning of the Trump administration, if you go through every single city on the list that has been put on there, not one of them passed a simple resolution like this, all of these cities that are on there codified into law, through ordinance, or they solidified or reaffirmed through a resolution laws that were already on their books. So this is not something that should put us on a sanctuary city list. And in fact, in no way does it prohibit law enforcement, any federal agent from doing their jobs. There is a difference between an administrative warrant and a judicial warrant. All we are simply saying is that we will comply

completely. I don't think there's anybody in this room that doesn't want a criminal off the street. You you commit a felony, a murder, a rape, child molest. I don't I don't care what it is. And you can disagree with me in this audience if you want. You do not belong here. and and the people that continuously commit those crimes, if they get out and they're citizens, you should be locked up and thrown away for the rest of your life. That's how I feel and that's it. But a speaker had also mentioned and and we we're talking about how this doesn't happen anywhere that everybody's following policy and code and following the law. They had brought up the high-rise in Chicago and not only were 37 people arrested, there were no convictions. But the question I have for all those people in opposition of this, there were young children in the middle of the night, ripped from their homes after their doors and windows were kicked in, zip tied in their jammies and in their diapers on the streets outside of the apartment building where they had no idea where their parents were. I have a six-month-old and a 2-year-old. If there was no warrant to kick my door down, but they had some madeup probable cause and they took my two children out in diapers and put them on the curb while their parents were locked away. So, is that just a mistake? Is that an accident? Would you condone that, mayor? I don't need an answer. It's fine. People have continuously brought up crime as a reason to not support this. And I brought up at my town hall which was continuously interrupted by the mayor and he he's complaining about people coming here tonight through organizing when he tried to organize people to purposely disrupt a community meeting I wanted to have. Not to tell people why I was right or they were wrong, but to try and explain the content and the context of what this resolution is versus the information that's been put out there that is not true. Because the ordinance piece of this resolution or this this item never came forward. It was not moved forward at that meeting, but yet we still hear about signage getting put

up, the blocking of federal law enforcement, the blocking of our own ability for our sheriffs to do their job. And in fact, Captain Men, if you are here, I'd really appreciate if you come down because I do have a few questions for you. Um, I also want it to be known that the last the last administration to do any real meaningful federal legislation on immigration policy was in 1996 under Bill Clinton. Prior to that, it was 1986 under Ronald Reagan. So, for 30 years, we haven't had policy changes, and that's Democrats and Republicans. And I'm going to tell you, we're not here to solve federal legislation issues. The gentleman that said, "We need to start contacting our Congress people was 100% correct." And I also agree that this resolution doesn't actually talk about due process outside of the know your rights campaign. But you know what? It it does mean that we need to adhere and follow it. And so when we're talking about a judicial warrant that will give the grant the opportunity of this city to work entirely with a federal law agency on immigration policies, it's not saying don't come to our city. It's saying bring the warrant and we will fully comply with every request you have and welcome you in. It also does not bar any federal agents, immigration or otherwise, from entering the city and conducting business when they have a warrant or whatever other operation, whether we agree with it or not, in the city of Vista. So, I want to be clear. It is not protecting anybody from that happening. Captain Mail. Does this resolution concern the sheriff's department?

No, it does not. Could you hit your little green button so the public can hear? No, it does not.

Is there anything in here that you believe or that the San Diego County Sheriff's believe that will allow criminals to be protected and allow them to hide in plain sight? No. Is there anything that makes this more difficult for you or your deputies to do your job? No. Is there anything in here that makes your deputies less safe? No. Last week, the mayor accused our elected and sworn county sheriff of telling me how to vote on this policy. What he may not have known is that I actually uh have Kelly Martinez's number. I have a tremendous amount of respect for her. I think she's doing a good job. Uh and we had a very good candid conversation prior to the September 22nd or 23rd vote that we took. But at no time did she ever tell me how to vote on this policy. She shared concerns. She shared concerns about ordinances and law changes more specifically. But as far as a resolution, and I will quote her, I do not have a problem with this resolution. So, mayor, I want to ask because you seem to be upset when people call you a liar. You posted that. Are you lying to the public or did Sheriff Martinez lie to me?

Sheriff Martinez stood right here at this rostrm and she told me personally that she told you that she did not support this measure. So, you're saying she's a liar? That is exactly what they're saying. You're saying that she said that is precisely precisely what this she stood right there at that rostroom and told me when we were here for the senior scam stopper summit. Okay. She stood right there and told me that. She said she did not support the sanctuary policy. She told me that she told you that and I never indicated or meant to indicate that she was binding you or telling you how to vote. You absolutely did when you posted on Next Door. What I meant was that I don't care what you meant. You ask a question, you're going to get an answer. Good.

What I meant was we deserve answers. What I Well, I'm trying to speak. You asked me a question. Being interrupted. That's funny. You did it to me for 2 hours at my town hall. We are now in a council meeting. We were not in a council meeting at the time. You asked me. You know what? It's proper decorum, John. No. You know what, Danny? You're the one interrupting me now. You're the You're admitting you're interrupting me. I'll reclaim the mic. No, you're not reclaiming. You asked me a question. I'm going to answer it. You yielded to me for No, I have not finished answering. You asked me a question, I'm going to answer it without your interruptions. You said that she's lying. She stood right. I did not say she was lying. I said that she said right here that she told you that she did not support this. Okay. You are twisting the facts. You are a liar.

I'm telling you a conversation. I personally told you cuz she sat right here and told me that she did not support it and that she told you. So you are twisting the facts. I'm not twisting facts. I'm absolutely twisting facts. Your voters are going to hold you accountable. Well, your voters have spoken overwhelmingly. They do not support this. You speak your peace, but don't ask me to yield to you for a question. Don't ask me to take a question from you. Yield the floor to me and then interrupt me and speak over me. I am finished now answering my question. You may have your floor back. I hope you understand what it feels like to be spoken over constantly when people are trying to talk. You know what? When you lie at a meeting that is not a council meeting, you have no right not to be interrupted.

You have no right at your town hall meeting not to be interrupted. Sorry, but you don't.

Okay, [applause] good times. I will because the mayor doesn't do a good job of this. Please maintain a quorum. We are not allowed to clap, cheer, or speak, whatever it is in the in the audience. People talk about this also being a political issue. Uh I have not once in any conversation I've had politicized this to the extent of just clarifying information. I will just tell you a story about something that happened yesterday which made me bring a little bit of clarity to this subject. We talk about families in our community. I have a two and a half-year-old son yesterday that stayed home from daycare. And I'm [snorts] not trying to make an anecdotal story, but it's going to be one. He woke up yesterday with a fever, really bad cough, a horse throat. We kept him home by 5:30 in the evening. Uh he's potty training, so I put him on the toilet. He is keeled over on the toilet hacking so hard he can barely breathe. Took his temperature was 102.5. And in that moment, I'm sitting there and all I care about is this child. And so my wife took him to the emergency care and while she was gone, I'm sitting there thinking about this upcoming meeting as I have for the last few weeks. And I asked myself, why are we having this conversation? Not why is it before us, why are we having it? This isn't a political issue. As much as people want to twist it and make it, and I don't not blaming one side or the other. I'm going to say both sides do it, it's a moral issue. It's an ethical issue, you know, mayor. And here's the thing. You can talk about my voters. I've had a lot of voters in District 4 that have reached out to me and told me they support it. And at the end of the day, if someone doesn't want to vote for me for voting for my conscience and doing the things I need to do to be able to put my head on the pillow at night, knowing that despite there's not a large Hispanic, Latino, or whatever immigrant population might exist out there that's fearful in my community, I know they exist in the rest of the city. And as a leader, sometimes I need to make tough

decisions that may get me in trouble with my constituents. And you know what? next November, if they choose, that that decision is something they can't support. I respect them because that is the God-given right of our Constitution and their ability to vote the way they want to. I feel the same way.

That's great. Didn't ask. I also just want to point out something else because we talk about uh what somebody said the housing costs are due to immigration. The average cost of a home in the city of Vista is about $900,000. Let me repeat that. The average cost of a home in Vista is about $900,000. Do you think anybody coming here without documentation is purchasing a nearly million-dollar home? Anybody? I don't think so. Uh I want to know where the outrage and and anger is for people like Amherst and Blackstone who have accumulated 19% of all the housing here in the state of California. I'm not blaming immigrants. I'm going to blame the industries that are purposely trying to make a profit and drive people out of the ability to buy a home. And then it comes to these bodies in the state legislature to have to try and remedy that situation. And when people can't afford to buy those homes, guess who buys them? The same people that are creating the problem. So, anybody who's going to blame immigrants who I mean, I have heard stories of three, four, five families living in one home, uh, two, three families living in an apartment. Those are who you're going to blame for the housing stock and the apartment stocks being low. It's it's ridiculous to even try and frame it that way. And then we do talk about due process. Well, due process, whether we like it or not, you know, again, this is a federal immigration policy issue that has been failed by the congressional leaders and the administrations for 30 to 40 years. But it is still, whether you like it or not, afforded to everybody under the constitution. Everybody is afforded their due process. It does not mean that once you are arrested, you get to stay in this country. It means that you are legally have the right and the ability to go through the due process and then the

courts can decide whether or not they're going to deport you or let you stay. I don't think that that is an unreasonable argument to ask that people have the ability to fight for their case to want to live in the greatest country on earth regardless of how they got here. And I'll be the somebody mentioned the Epstein files. Uh you know what? I don't almost swore. I don't care if you're a Democrat, Republican on that list. Everyone should be outed. Every single person. And the fact that there's an administration trying to hide that list is absurd. And in fact, one of our congressmen that lives in this region had previously voted to block that so they wouldn't be released. There is a special place in hell for every human trafficker, drug trafficker, and pedophile in this country and across the globe. I will be perfectly clear on that. I don't care if Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, anybody else, any prominent Democrat is on the Epstein list, expose them all. They deserve to be exposed. And anybody who is willingly supporting the lawsuits that are being filed or the investigations to try and block this information from coming out, you are compliant with hiding those lists and protecting the victims that were exposed to those hor horrendous horrendous conditions and acts. I want to point out something else because it all happened during this. During one of the many, many videos that were put out by the mayor during his campaign, I received threats or or people discussing whether or not to dox my family. As I mentioned, I have a six-month old and a two-month or two-year-old at home. They also threatened to camp out on my front lawn. When I brought this up to the mayor, don't get me wrong, I wasn't extremely cordial about it. When I brought it up, all he said was, "I'm sorry you feel that way. That wasn't my intention, and

I don't condone it." But did he take the video down? No. Did he keep it running as a campaign ad? Yes. So when we talk about civility, whether it's in politics or life, when people are threatening my family, and you bring that up, mayor, if that happened to you, I would have taken that video down in a heartbeat because I don't condone any political violence. I genuinely don't. I don't even condone people interrupting you while you're speaking. I'm doing it because you constantly do it to me. But if you didn't, I promise you I wouldn't. All right, think I've covered all of that. I do have a few questions regarding item number three on this resolution.

Council member O'Donnell, uh, not to interrupt, may be excused.

You may, you may be called back up here by others. [laughter] City Attorney, if you might, one of the things that concerns me at item number three is, in my mind, an overreach of a municipal government onto private enterprise and private companies. I'm also concerned about some of its redundancies that exist within current state and federal law. So one of the things that I am also concerned about is if they would even need to comply to this because would it be an overreach on where we exist and would it jeopardize future contracts? So one of the first things I have is a question from a municipal from a municipal government standpoint. Do we have the authority over a contract in this manner? Because typically my understanding is it would be the quality of work timeliness compliance and local regulations. But given that we have current existing federal and state law, are we able to overlay something like this onto a city contract?

So a contract is a voluntary agreement between two parties generally. So you could overlay something that's in excess of the law. You cannot overlay something that takes away from the law. So if a if a contractor wants to do more than the law requires, we can try to contract for that. So it is possible. Do you feel like it would force any companies into a potential conflict with federal authorities or agencies?

I think it would force companies to discuss internally, you know, and we probably would not even know about these discussions whether or not they want to even entertain this. We do require them to follow all laws, federal, state and federal, and even and local. And if we're trying to ask them to do something more than that, I do think they would have discussions amongst themselves on whether or not that's something they wish to do.

My other question is, how does it impact our bargaining with contracts such as the sheriffs or firefighters or even something that many people don't think about, which is our security system housed by Microsoft? So, I can tell you from the years I've been doing contracting, the more the sophisticated the company, the more likely they're going to push back and generally just say no to this type of provision. It's going to be smaller companies that don't have counsel or things that are or not very closely reading the contract language that's probably going to to enter into it maybe not knowing what it is. But in my history with contracts, especially with Microsoft stuff, they usually won't allow for any interineations or changes to their agreements, um the more that a company's, you know, they they're going to more companies sophisticated, they're going to want to know why we are asking for this and uh you know, what is the purpose of it and you know to explain usually that's the first step in the contract negotiations asking us for to explain why we're asking for certain provisions. So, I guess my other question would be, would it put us in a position where we'd have to change the phrasing or verbiage depending upon the contract? And would that open us up to litigation if we had to do that to adhere to the willingness of a company that wants to enter into a contract with the city?

If on bullet point C, we would have to change the language. So, for each individual contract,

each individual contract. And it wouldn't be a boilerplate. It would be certain companies are going to want certain different types of language. Some of them going to say, well, we want to limit it, let's say, per se, to just what we're contracting with the city. Cuz right now, this bullet point C could be read is to be in total to any data they currently have that even predates any contractual relationship with the city. So, you know, I would, for example, assume that they might want to just limit to the contract it has with the city data that it acquires from the city. So that's not, you know, in, you know, what's in C right now.

Do we have a fixed definition for what is considered sensitive or non-public information or is that subjective?

It's going to be subjective. It's going to depend on the industry on what is considered private or confidential and what certain companies have access to different data or require different data. So I'm not even you know I'm not even sure right sitting as here today what the extent the differences could be but I do know when we do public works contracts versus when we do contracts with security companies that different data is um collected and provided. I guess my other question is would you feel like it's redundant based on the following SB54, AB450, AB2792 uh and would it override any of those?

It is it is somewhat redundant on the AB450 and the immigrant workers rights. So employers right now by state law cannot give out any confidential and sensitive information about their employees or you know or you know or people they work with. So to that extent it would be would it override you know be SP 54 only applies to law enforcement agencies. We don't have an internal police department. So but we would have a contract with them. We would have yeah a contract. So that wouldn't it wouldn't be redundant of that. Well, SP54 doesn't apply to the city of Vista because we don't have an internal police department.

Are there signs going up anywhere in the city if we were to pass this telling federal agencies that they're not allowed in the city vista? Uh, there's nothing in this resolution that says that. No language anywhere in the resolution. None.

Okay. Um, I know it may disappoint some of the people in this audience, but I have a lot of concerns with item number three based on its generalities and vagueness. And so I would ask this council uh to either table item number three within this resolution to get clarity and and find something that's going to be more fine-tuned and move the other three items forward or to exit out completely and move the other remaining items forward. But I'm willing to listen to my council to hear what they have to say on that. Uh but those are my large concerns with item number three. Uh just just to be clear again. Item number one, it does not prohibit in any way any federal immigration agents from executing their duties in the city of Vista. And I will say this again to the public because I have said it over and over again. I support law enforcement. I know they support me. I would not do anything to put any resident in this city, my family, or anybody else in jeopardy or danger through any piece of legislation we pass up here. I would not put the men and women that wear the uniform, whether they're federal or sheriffs or local law enforcement agents, anywhere in this region. I would not make it less safe for them to do their jobs. And in this, it does not. and whether or not some people are willing to admit that we are literally requiring someone to go before a judge before they enter in to non-accessible areas of the city. That's it. Get a judicial warrant, not an administrative warrant. That is what bullet point number one does. It does not say you're anti-law enforcement. Does not say that you are anti- federal enforcement. It simply says go through the procedure, follow the courts, follow the law, uphold the law, uphold the constitution that all of us up here swore an oath to. That's what we're asking. Council member

Conterus was um [sighs] first I just want to thank the community. Um I didn't see one bus out there. Um so uh but I I do want to thank the community for coming out. Uh clearly you're here because this is important to you and for some of you it has the immigration situation has deeply deeply impacted your family and I wanted to bring up this conversation because those impacts are irreversible and I don't want to see One example here on city- owned property or city controlled property where folks their due process is violated when we as a council can just do the bare minimum. This is a resolution. It's not an ordinance. It's not changing our laws. It's simply saying that we as the council resolve that you should know your rights. You maybe we bifurcate this. I feel like you know is everybody uh here my colleagues in accordance with everybody knowing their rights. Is is that something that you are okay with Mayor Franklin? I don't have a problem with people knowing their rights. I I mean, I think a quick Google would take you to a dozen different websites, which would help you understand what your rights are. Now, I don't understand really what the point of having the city recreate the wheel to share all this information

is, but I have no problem with people knowing their rights. I don't have a problem with that. You're you're asking about creating a web page. You would be in support of that? Yeah, I don't think I have a problem with it. I mean, I I I you you asked me if I had a problem with people knowing their rights. I don't have a problem with them knowing their rights. Um I'm going to think on it for a second. Okay. I hadn't thought about approving that one as a standalone, but no, I don't really have a problem with people knowing their rights. I think everybody should know their rights. I think everybody should have a copy of the Constitution and read it frequently. I think if they did, we probably wouldn't be sitting here having this conversation tonight. Yeah. Some of us would know a little bit more about due process. That's for sure. Right.

Um I'll get you a copy. Yeah, thanks. Maybe we can read it together. Um, so I'll try and teach you. I think it's my time to speak. So, um, okay. Just I was just really curious. I mean, the fact that you have to think about it makes me think that it's a no. But

um so, Council Member O'Donnell, you're having issues with the third item, item C. And it I mean it sounds like the way that this is crafted, you know, and what I heard from city attorney is that there's going to be individual discussions when if when and if a contractor flags, hey, what is this? And at that point, to the extent possible, the city, you know, can pursue uh item C. So, you know, I just I feel like it's already at a place that provides ample space for the city to generate contracts, future contracts, um where you know, if there is push back, we have to the extent possible and some of these more complicated contracts. Are are you saying that that does not satisfy you? Yes. So if you were to look at like say our Microsoft contract and actually I'll I'll ask Walter this rather than give a legal expert opinion because so Walter if if one person in the entire company of Microsoft violated these rules. Say you had some rogue agent or component of an employee that was like I have access to this information. I'm going to share it with a federal immigration official. Would that then be breach of contract for something like this?

So the way I can kind of answer this if the language in the contract was basically as written in C it would be. So right now there is no limitations on what the data is you know what the time frame of the data so it again it could have preceded any contract uh you know with the city. So, it's it's could be very broad and and the other problems we wouldn't know what data the contractor actually has or has access to. So, we're not privy to that and we by law could not be given that. May I ask a follow up to that? Yes, you can.

What What would our penalties or recourse be? I understand we would sue them, but what are we suing them for? Damages and breach of contract. Like, what what are we hoping to obtain or gain from that? Since it's a since it's a a contract, it would just be damages, consequential damages. So there could not even be punitive damages. It would be the actual loss, monetary loss to the city. So really, honestly, I don't know if there would be any legal damages. Thank you. So I mean, it sounds to me like it's it's not a problem. Uh, but you disagree with that? I do.

And if we were to add language that says limited to city contracted data, would you then be in favor? Would that solve or suffice that issue?

Um, we would not provide sensitive information in any contract since I've been here at the city in all my municipal time with other cities. we just don't provide any confidential and sensitive data. So, you know, again, we would only provide it the only time, you know, if the state, the Department of Labor, they do audit some of our public works contracts. So, we do provide certain data, but again, we don't have in all these contracts. We're not providing any personal data. I guess my larger concern is if this would then do an overlay or implement that they would have to change their own policy within the larger corporation to adhere to this. Yes, they would have to have some safeguard. So they would if they don't have a way to protect data, you know, from being distributed potentially to federal immigrations officials or agencies, yes, they would have to create some mechanism to ensure that that's not released. So, so it would actually fall outside the purview of any contract we enter into. It would actually be all-encompassing to their company or or really change their policy for every contract that they're entered into outside of the city of Vista even.

Yes. If it if the language was basically as it is in generally as it is in C right now, it would Yes. It would be applicable to their whole company, you know, companywide for every contract, for every transaction that they conduct. Well, that's why I'm asking if if this is the contention that you have, Council Member O'Donnell, then I would think that putting an additional uh point of reference in C uh that would limit um it not to uh the entirety of that corporation. First of all, I think that as a corporation, you probably should have these conversations internally. First of all, I think that just having that um would probably strengthen the corporation because there's so many um data breaches and and whatnot and people's sensitive information. So I would think and I would want the uh corporations that we are contracting with to already have something like that. Um but I do feel like we could potentially limit the scope to only activities that are contracted with the city of Vista. And I just don't know exactly is there any kind of language with uh item C city attorney that would satisfy I think the uh the concerns that council member O'Donnell has brought forward. [clears throat]

So I'm not sure there is because the realm of possibilities is so large. I mean there's just it's going to be questions of what is first of all I think I'm going to get questions of what do you how do you define sensitive what do you define as personal what is and then you know we wouldn't even I wouldn't even be able to look at potential examples of that data because legally they couldn't give me sensitive or personal you know confidential data because again under California federal law privacy laws they couldn't give it to me so we get into a kind of an academic discussion where we bas I might be basically asking them to agree to language but with no way to actually understand if they if they are going to enforce it if they're going to live up to it and any way for us to enforce it. So, as a lawyer, I'd rather not have vague and ambiguous language ever in a contract or an agreement that's, you know, really uninforceable. And it because again, it gives potentially false hope that there's something there that but then there's nothing there's no enforcement mechanism.

So, would these contracts generally come before the council for approval? Contracts over $150,000 require a mayor signature. So those are always presenting the council for approval.

I mean I would say that if you run into a situation um regardless of the threshold of the of the contract that um it could be brought to council on a you know casebyase basis. So, I mean, again, this is a policy call for the council to make, but we do on a daily basis enter into a lot of contracts. Anything from a a contract with an individual to be a recreational instructor all the way to public works contracts to amendments to contracts. So you it would inhibit I you know both staff and council's time to be bringing this because then again

that's only under the hypothetical that we're going to see a lot of issues. Yeah. But I do from my experience I think we're going to see a lot of issues in the interest of moving us forward. It says to the extent possible doesn't that provide extreme latitude to the staff?

That's what that's how I feel about it. the the interpretation of it and that's why I'm asking these questions because it is it's extremely vague. So not to okay so the extent possible then you know may puts the burden on the city attorney's office and then it becomes subjective on whether someone thinks I exercised you know enough you looked at every possible possibility so it's going but you're I mean that's your job it it would be to do that right

well it would be the job to try to get if if it's the direction of the council I would do everything I can to get this type of language in the contract. But if at some point the contractor says no or what if they have said we'll do it then it's a moot point and we'll do it for you know 20% over our over you know what we normally would charge because we you know why don't you add a clause to this that says whenever he can't put it in he brings it back to the council that way we can move I mean that's that's kind of council member would would that suffice is my question like because would that make every contract come back before the council is my question though I I think the ones he couldn't get the come back to the council.

Well, only the ones that you can't get the the uh language. So, I think those are going to be most of the contracts. So, so for the sake of this argument, these are my concerns with it. So, I I'

I cannot right now say yes to number three, unless we want to bring it back at some point, which to be honest with you, I don't want to pack this room with a thousand people again. Um but I am I am more than willing to go with one, two, and four to move them forward. Yeah, I'm just I I'm just not understanding the issue if it is something that the city attorney's office will handle on a case-byase basis. Um because there is wiggle room in the in the language used on item C. uh you know if you want to bring people back in the future just to talk about this I'm sure everybody would be you know willing to come back but I I just don't think that this is a very big issue because in house the city attorney's office will be handling this.

Can I offer a potential alternative? Yeah. What if C turned into something like D that no personal characteristic uh of any individual collected by the city would be shared with any contractor? I can get on board with that. Okay. That way because that we're in a legal, you know, and they can't share it anyway because they don't have it, right? Got it. Yeah, I'm on board. We're not and then we're not the guarantors of any other data that the contractor possesses. Not because of us. Okay. But we are in control of what we would be able to give out which would be nothing which is what we already do. Don't we have a lot of contracts with vendors where we're giving out PII?

I think it's still my turn though to speak. Um so okay I I it sounds like that would suffice um suffice your concerns. Um, and so I am totally okay with mirroring uh C to look like D, but to be specifically about, you know, city contracts. Also, time's going to be. [snorts]

Okay. Um, so I'm going to want to seed my time, but I do want to um add 30 more minutes just in case this discussion goes further. Uh, so that would put us at 11:30. So I make a motion to extend the time to 11:30.

I'll second that. Let's [snorts] uh if there's no other discussion on that motion, let's go ahead and vote. Any discussion on that motion? Let's vote on it. It's a motion to extend the meeting time until 11:30. Yes. Motion passes unanimously.

Okay. So, um you know, I could go on and on forever and I know that we probably don't have that much pizza left. Um, so, uh, I'm going to go ahead and make a motion that we approve, uh, the resolution with the amendment that item, uh, C, uh, would mirror item D, uh, with the language, but it would still pertain to city contracts. Uh, thank you again all for coming, and this is Democracy in Action. Let's see. Uh, I think it was Council Member Fox was next. Is that right? Council member Fox and I think it was Deputy Mayor after that.

Hey, that was a little bit more responsive today. Not bad.

Um, I want to start off by thanking everyone for coming out today. I agree this is, you know, democracy and action. It's very much important that, you know, everyone comes out and speaks their minds. And um you know I don't think it's we're not up here to you know pick the most popular option but we are up here to hear different opinions and figure out you know if there's new pieces of information that we're gaining from these different points then we can incorporate them into our belief system. So and and our decision-m process. So so that's very important that we get that kind of information. So thank you all for coming tonight. Um, [sighs] I have like five pages of notes and so knowing where to start is actually kind of tough for me right now. Um, I guess I'll kind of just start on my question side and then we'll kind of move to my feelings on on each of the different four points. Uh, maybe this is for the city manager, but I mean for for the crowd could would you mind explaining the differences between an ordinance, a resolution and and council direction? So or if someone else would rather.

Yeah. So, uh, an ordinance is a local law. It it's it basically anything that's adopted by the council by ordinance becomes part of our municipal code or development code. A resolution is something lesser than an ordinance. It's a statement of policy or or statement of position by the city council. And so those basic are the two differences. Okay. And council direction is, you know, we're just giving informal policy. Yeah. You're giving informal policy direction generally to the city manager to then, you know, carry out with staff.

Yeah. All right. And um you know, because I think again that this came as an ordinance originally and is now back as a resolution. So, I just wanted to kind of clarify that piece for everybody just so they they kind of know the difference. Um is it currently part Uh, so I mean I'll get I'll just get into it. You know, we don't we don't have all the time in the world. I want to keep you guys here all night. Um, I I want to explain, you know, my my decision-m process and philosophy on a lot of these things is very um pros and cons, very much, you know, directed on, you know, what are what are the benefits that come from the policy directly and, you know, what are some of the the cons that will come out and and weigh those things directly. And so, you know, I went through all these different pieces and and kind of came up with, you know, my feeling of of where we are on these. Uh, for for item number one, the the web page. Um, I think that's actually I mean, I don't have any issue with having information about, you know, the different the constitutional rights that people are afforded. Um, and I mean, I do agree that, you know, I I do marketing, I do SEO and all that kind of stuff as a like on a daily basis as a um as my my day job. So, um I do agree that the amount of people that will be finding this website on some they're going to search it out on something like Google or you know a um search engine rather than going to typing at vista.gov and searching through our menus probably a lot more often. Um and when you search for things like you know what are my you know immigrant rights, what are my rights as an immigrant, a lot of those kinds of things, ACLU national immigrant justice center, immigrant legal legal resource center, a lot of those different uh websites already kind of pop up. So, we're just going to be competing with them on the stuff, but I don't necessarily have a problem with having it on our website, there are people that would be able to um while it's not a large number, some people will find it. So, I could see some value in that. And I I see the the con to that being pretty pretty low and minimal. So,

I don't really see any issues there. Um, I'll talk about items two and four, I think, together because they're both kinds of policies that in my opinion are just repeating what our current policies already are. Is that is that the case? I mean, because, you know, we already do not allow people behind, you know, the only place and and that let's let me make that clear on the non-public areas of city-owned facilities. It doesn't apply to a lot of the places I think that people were were worried about tonight. Um, you know, I heard I heard birthday parties, schools, polling places, libraries, churches, cour houses, jails. That was that was an online one, an email. Um, grocery stores, senior centers, clinics, I think was another online one. All of those properties are not non-public areas of cityowned facilities. And so this policy doesn't affect those in the slightest because we do not have control over those places. So um but for the places that it would qualify. So for example, if you go through that door behind some locked doors and into like city council, you know, private offices or those kinds of areas, those would be the areas that this policy covers. So you know, there again, we haven't had any immigration access in the back halls and I don't foresee there being any there. So um but that being said, it is our current policy, correct? To not allow allow people without a judicial warrant to Yeah. So um and for item four, um in the same respect, we already have a policy of not sharing personal information with outside organizations.

That's correct. Yeah. And [snorts] on that note, on item four, do we even collect immigration status information? And do we have that anywhere that we could share even if we wanted to? So we do for employees for say HR. So prove right to work. Um that's really the only example that I know of in the city.

Okay. Okay. All right. So, you know, I think that that again numbers two and four basically are just kind of repeating our our current policies as a city, which also repeat a lot of our county ordinances, which also repeat a lot of our state law. Um, and so, you know, I think, you know, resolution is is, you know, the pros to that would be at least we're we're showings that there's that we're trying to make progress on something. I you know it's it's more of a uh an I'd say the thing that you get out of it is is optics. Um and I'll kind of get into some of the cons a little bit later. Um on number three, that was one that I also had some a decent amount of questions on. Now this and this is this is an honest question uh to the city attorney. Would something like an enduser's license agreement from something like Microsoft qualify as a contract?

Yes. Okay. that I mean the just the term agreement is a synonym for contract.

Correct. Right. And so those are the types of things that I was the most worried about that you know when you purchase a pres piece of software you're automatically kind of agreeing to an enduser license agreement when you're using that and there's almost zero chance you're going to have them modify their entire end users license agreement to um for for a a city is my my guess on that. Um, so those are the things where the the kind of contracts that I think would be the most difficult for us to kind of deal with. Um, I think anything where we're creating something with our own internal contract template or something like that. Um, I know our contract probably already says that you have to comply with local, state, federal law, which would include things like the California Fair Employment Practices laws and things like that already. So someone broke that law and shared people's personal informations, they would technically already be breaching our contracts. Okay. So again, that another one that is pretty much just repeating what our our current current policies are and you know and what we would and and would have not really a huge effect on how that would work. So um you know I think generally when you go through all these the the pros you know the showing the solidarity and support I know I was hearing a lot of people talking about fear and you know that's something that um showing support and and all that does have some some actual real value. um distributing information even you know even if the website only you know a few people learn their rights their constitutional rights off of it I don't see a huge issue that's that's a positive and you know reaffirming our practices and policies you know uh but I think that the big elephant in the room and I think that a lot of people talked about tonight was that that the wonderful term sanctuary city and

you know I think one thing that none of us really want to admit up here is that none of us really get to decide if this is a sanctuary city policy or not. Pretty much no cities go out and and call their policy a sanctuary city. Um I believe even California's you know sanctuary city policy um you know is excludes judicial warrants and things like that in it because you they're required to by federal law. And so, um, I was kind of going through there's there's not an official definition of sanctuary city, which is super cool for people like us that have to make policies around these types of things. And but I did go to the the uh Department of Justice website and look at some of their different criteria that they um that they listed. They had about nine um and I think about two of them were relevant to us. laws, ordinances, regulations, resolutions or policies that are designed to limit cooperation with immigrant uh immigration and customs enforcement was one of them. And then restrictions on information sharing with federal authorities was another one. And so those do, I think, check some boxes. Whether two out of nine is enough to qualify us or not, you know, isn't isn't up to anyone up here. It's it's up to our wonderful Department of Justice. So um I think that that is something where the the ramifications of that you know the loss of funding is one piece but um the big thing is you know I I I quoted this last time you know we had this conversation um and I think it was even quoted tonight the the flood the zone comment from from Tom Hman and um on top of that you know the was also spoken about the HR1 fund funding the um new border patrol leaders that I I learned about at the the town hall and all these different things pointing to, you know, they're they're going to be using those those dollars somewhere. And so, you know, the

painting a target on your back was something that I could see some actual real negative ramifications with. So, I can see some more optical solidarity pros and some very much, you know, potential negative repercussions for something like this. So um so as a resolution I don't think I can support this item. Um but um I I didn't want to come to this without having any kind of alternatives or anything. So, I wanted to bring up potentially uh instead of a resolution recommending we we disseminate what California state law is and what our current policies are to our staff and make sure that we are con conforming with that already to make sure that we are not breaking any California laws and making sure that we are um you know preventing us from any liability with the state. And you know, I'm I'd leave that up to the city manager's discretion. you know, it's it's as as an administrative action. How you take care of that um is not for, you know, the city council to decide, but you know, whether it's a memo, email, training, you know, whatever whatever that looks like. And for the website on item one, I I don't necessarily have any problem with that. So, if that's something that council wants, um, I just wanted to give that that alternative to council if, um, I think it gives us pretty much all of the pros, which is, you know, being very clear on what our pol what the state laws are, what our policies are, um, and it limits as many of those cons as possible. And so, um, that would be my recommendation. And, uh, I'd love to hear council's opinion on that. And if they have any agreement there and if not, then I'm sure it will pass either way. So, that'll be it. And just as an an answer to council member Contrarus asked me about the know your rights and when I go with that. If you want to uh publish a recognized copy

of the constitution on the know your rights I'm 100% okay with that. Uh but the devil is in the details. I don't know what you know who's going to write the know your rights website. Is that going to be our IT director? Is it going to be our city attorney? I've got a volunteer out in the audience out here. I'm not sure what he writes. I'm gonna agree with. So I I couldn't join you in yes on a know your rights website unless I knew what was going to be on it and I knew that it was valid material uh that presented a point of view that was consistent with the views of the people of Vista. So, if you want one that simply publishes the United States Constitution and makes that easy to find for people to read and that is the basis of our rights as citizens, I will join you 100% in adding the Constitution. I think it should be vista.gov/constitution. We could make it also uh vista.gov/nowyour rights. Both of them would go to the constitution. I'll go for that right now if you want to do that. Deputy Mayor Mendes.

Well, thank you community for coming out tonight. Um, this has been a great showing of civic engagement. It really has been. And I wish I could take credit for all the activity and the hundred and something speakers that we had, but I'm actually very busy and I didn't have time to invite anyone to this meeting. And I'm really grateful everyone showed up regardless. Um I think it's really dangerous for our mayor to be here um lying and targeting our members of the community and saying that you were bust here accusing you of being paid protesters. I think it's highly inappropriate and strange, very strange behavior. Um

one of the speakers said so. It really um well, one of the speakers said, "I don't know if they were bust here and then you took it and ran with it." But I'm speaking now and I don't have anything to ask you. [clears throat] What I will share with the community is what I witnessed here tonight. So, I get to sit up here next to the mayor. Um

and you know, I see that he's taking a tally of the uh you know, speakers. There's a portion that says um yes, sanctuary city and a portion that says no sanctuary city. And I notice he's not actually tallying it accurately. And I don't know if he can't count or if he just is wanting to, you know, weigh things unequally, but uh I let him know. I said, "You missed one." When I noticed that, um one of our uh you know, the supporters of this item uh spoke up and didn't didn't get tallied. She also made me a sign that says sad boy. So, appreciate the childish to talk. I did.

No, no. And let me finish. I'll finish. So, I had uh I had let him know. I said, "Hey, you missed one." And then after that, um he kind of stopped tallying. And then once I found out they were all bust here, it didn't really matter.

There was a moment, you know, there was a couple speakers um who uh were, you know, in order and and and they didn't get tallied. And I said, "Okay, I'm just going to ignore this. I I hope he doesn't try to use this tally for anything scientific. Um, and it hasn't come up, but I want to share that with you. So, there was a there was a interesting tally going on up here. And then, um, we did have a bit of a shame spiral that occurred. If you remember, there was kind of a, you know, uncontrollable outburst, which bad, bad, bad. Y'all should have really maintained a quorum. Um, but I think after those calls of shame, uh, the mayor ended up posting on Next Door and really running with this idea that you were bust here. Um, and then he also took his little sheet over and he wrote, uh, brandishing it towards me, he wrote on the area that was tallying of people who supported this item. He wrote bus, bus, bus, bus a bunch of times. And so that's when I wrote him back and I said, "Sad boy." Because that is so strange. That is so strange to accuse our community of being bust here when I've seen so many of you folks again and again and again. And I've gotten messages from you this week asking me saying, "Hey, I heard that this meeting was happening. What can I do?" And I'm like, "You know what? Um, thanks for coming to the meeting. You can always fill out a speaker slip. And also want to say thank you to um our city clerk's office. They kept things really really organized and so I just want to say thank you to you guys down there at the end because they did a really good job keeping things organized. Thank you. We can

Where's my intended worm?

Uh we pass up with all the clapping. But I I just share this because you know we're up here. We're trying to have a a normal conversation and there's some really unhinged behavior where it's like I think that there's some self-hatred going on. I think that there's some um you know really a lot of desperation going on. There's no need to lie. There's no need to go on next door in the middle of a meeting and start sharing that people are being busted here. I know you folks, you're our community members. You've shown up for so many different items. And if anyone is to blame for the turnout tonight, it's our mayor John Franklin because he's been all over the news about it. He's really the one to be blamed for how activated our community has gotten about this issue. I like I said, I wish I could take credit for the amazing organization that has happened tonight and the amazing work from staff to get everybody orderly in here. Um, but I've been really busy and ultimately uh this conversation has been weighing on me. It's really difficult to see federal agents um violating the law. We have reported instances of masked federal agents detaining US citizens uh violating due process of US citizens and and for some reason it's contested if due process is extended to every person in this nation. And I will fight for due process to be extended to every single person in this nation because if we revoke due process from any one person, it is damned for all of us. What happens next? How am I supposed to know, right? If I'm doing enforcement, how am I supposed to know who is lawfully here and who is not lawfully here if I do not enter them through a rightful and due process? So, I do support due process. Um, and I will stand for that. And so, I'll second the

motion, but I think it's really important that you all are here and engaged in this discussion. Um, I also want to, you know, something that really stood out to me that the mayor said was that America is great because we enforce the law. I think America is great because of our people. And I would love to see us enforce our laws equitably. There were some speakers who called out something really important and that is the disparities, the economic disparities between the people who are being targeted by federal ICE agents and the people who get away with crime in our country all the time, right? the people who are extracting and exploiting people. The massive amounts of wage theft and white collar crime that happens in our nation is not being dealt with. So, we do have a crime issue in this country, but it's not because of immigrants. And every reputable study will show you that. We went over this last time. Immigrants do not make our city more dangerous and more crimeridden. The exact opposite is true. When immigrants are in our community, when they are shown solidarity, they're actually working with law enforcement. They're reporting crimes. They're not afraid to stand up. And so this type of resolution maintains order and it says we will make sure that we are enforcing our laws because we will look around and help each other. And that's what makes America the best country in the world is not our historical inequity of our enforcement of the laws, but because our people are resilient and they show up and we take care of each other. So, thank you to my council for

having this discussion. I think we were able to make some modifications uh with great consideration to staff and you know, bless everyone for being here. I I really really stand against the comments that paint you to be separate from us. That's why I wanted to give you a little bit insight of what I was seeing up here and just the sad sad situation of the lies and delusion. And I believe you. I believe your stories. Thank you for sharing them. Do not let those mischaracter mischaracterizations discourage you from coming back here. Thank you for being here.

Our city attorney is going to read into the record. So the action item C. So, the replacement language I've drafted for 2C would be any protected personal characteristic data of an individual collected by the city will not be shared directly or indirectly with any person or entity that contracts with the city unless required by law or court order. Everybody good with that? That does that does put the onus on the city, correct? Yes. Perfect.

Okay, we have a motion to second. I see no other request to speak. Please cast your votes. Okay, that item approves is approved with three in favor and two opposed. That's the end of our meeting. Thanks for coming. [cheering] Thank you all for showing up. Come back.