LA County supervisors set to discuss ‘ICE-free zones’

The Los Angeles County board of supervisors is expected to discuss a proposed ordinance on Tuesday that would create “ICE-Free zones” in LA County. 

According to the county, this could possibly help in preventing federal immigration agents from using county-owned property as staging areas, processing locations, or operation bases.

It would also require clear signage. stating the area is owned and operated by LA County and cannot be used for immigration enforcement. It would not restrict or interfere with lawful judicial warrants.

Tuesday’s vote instructs county counsel to prepare and place the ordinance on the board’s agenda for introduction and consideration.

This comes after several immigration operations happened recently in the LA area.

According to councilmembers Eunisses Hernandez and Ysabel Jurado, there have been reports of immigration-related operations in areas like Glassell Park, Cypress Park, Highland Park and Eagle Rock.

These operations happened on the same day that students at the Los Angeles Unified School District returned to school after winter break. 

“Our schools are protected spaces. Our workforce is following rigid protocols that did not allow any federal agent to come into our schools and take any type of action without a judicial warrant,” Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said.

“Secondly, we have partnerships with community-based organizations and legal entities to provide support to our parents and our students. Thirdly, to make the journey easier, considering the level of fear in our community. We have added bus routes to provide convenient transportation for students whose parents are afraid of walking them to school.”

Those protocols were also in place last semester.

Board members are expected to meet at 9:30 on the proposed “ICE-free” zones.

NBCLA has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for a comment and will update this article with a response.