The Long Beach City Attorney was directed Tuesday night to draft a resolution expressing support for the impeachment or removal of Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Kristi Noem. The resolution will also urge “an end to the federal policies and enforcement operations that subject local communities to violence and harm” and affirm the City’s “commitment to protecting civil rights, community trust and the dignity of all residents.” 

That commitment was called into question earlier that night when local activist Anthony Bryson asked the City Council why Long Beach police show up to “every protest in riot gear when protestors are simply expressing their First Amendment right to protest.” Bryson said he felt the City has been “suppressing and repressing” residents’ right to protest. 

“We spent over a year coming to the city council asking for you guys to be proactive and not be one of the cities joining other cities, but the city leading the initiative to get ICE out,” Bryson said. 

Long Beach police line up near Pine Ave. and E. 3rd Street to prevent protestors from going into the streets on Jan. 10, 2026.(Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune)

Copies of Long Beach’s resolution will be sent to California federal and state representatives. Congressional representatives from states like New York, Ohio, California and Pennsylvania have called for Noem’s impeachment or resignation. 

“We are seeing fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, cousins, neighbors, friends leave their home in the morning terrified that a routine shift at work will be their last moment of freedom,” said Councilmember Tunua Thrash-Ntuk. “We cannot claim to be a safe community if we remain silent while federal agents operate with impunity in our neighborhoods. We cannot claim to protect civil rights if we look away when due process is violated and oversight is obstructed.” 

“I want to start off by saying I support law enforcement and I also support the rule of law,” Councilmember Kristina Duggan began. Her words were met with boos from the audience until Mayor Rex Richardson asked the crowd to let her speak. “I also support laws that protect people’s rights to move through their communities without federal interference when there is no reason to believe they have committed a crime.” 

Third district Councilmember Kristina Duggan gives her remarks at the Long Beach Terrace Theater during the inauguration ceremony on Dec. 20, 2022. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune)

A 17-year-old resident named Milo said he was disheartened at the speeches councilmembers gave and said the community demands were simple: 

Call to abolish ICE

Confirm the Long Beach Police Department does not cooperate with ICE

Send out alerts to residents when ICE is in the community

Document illegal activity that ICE does in the city

Make sure hotels don’t allow ICE to stay in the city 

Multiple residents throughout the evening echoed the request for the City to alert residents when ICE is in the city. 

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Mayoral candidate Regelio Martinez said multiple federal agencies contacted him after he posted a video on social media calling for “all 50 gangs in Long Beach to show up to city council” to demand the City get ICE out. Martinez said Richardson’s “inaction” on the ICE raids is what made him decide to run for mayor. “I don’t want to be mayor, I don’t,” Martinez said. 

A resident in Duggan’s district who identified herself as Lexie urged the council to enact a state of emergency so they could streamline resources to combat this issue, and asked what happened to the accountability mechanisms the City spoke about in July. 

City Manager Tom Modica said the “police does not assist ICE,” and none of the companies the City is contracted with are allowed to use city resources for anything to do with immigration enforcement. He clarified there is only so much the City “has control over” when it comes to what companies do with their own resources. 

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