Office of Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez
Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez (front row) and supporters gather in front of the Japanese American National Museum. Last year, ICE agents filled the plaza while Gov. Gavin Newsom was giving a speech at JANM’s Democracy Center.
Announcement made from Little Tokyo site where JAs were sent to camp.
RAFU STAFF REPORT
At a Feb. 6 press conference outside the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, Assemblymember Mark González (D-Los Angeles) announced the introduction of an Assembly bill to be jointly introduced with Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Salinas), disqualifying anyone who has engaged in immigration enforcement activity during the Trump Administration from being employed by a local, county or state public agency, including as a peace officer.
JANM President and CEO Ann Burroughs pointed out similarities between the treatment of Japanese Americans in 1942 and the Trump Administration’s roundup of immigrants.
Ann Burroughs, president and CEO of JANM, welcomed everyone to the Norman Y. Mineta Democracy Plaza, named for a congressman and Cabinet secretary who was incarcerated as a child with his family at Heart Mountain in Wyoming.
“We are standing on one of the Ground Zero points in the civil rights same epicenter history of this country,” she said. “It was here, in 1942, following Executive Order 9066, that thousands of Japanese Americans in Los Angeles were ordered to report — stripped of their rights and property and forcibly removed to America’s concentration camps. More than 125,000 people of Japanese ancestry were incarcerated by the U.S. government during World War II.
“This museum was founded as a place of truth and memory — to ensure that what happened here would never happen again. And yet, today, history is repeating itself. Across our city, our state, and across the country, ICE and CBP have operated as a lawless militia, bringing terror to immigrant communities — disappearing individuals and tearing families apart through detention and deportation.
“Just five months ago, this very plaza — hallowed ground — was invaded by dozens of armed and masked federal agents. A man was seized and incarcerated right here, on a site meant to warn against exactly this kind of state violence.”
The ICE activity took place while Gov. Gavin Newsom was giving a speech about redistricting at JANM’s Democracy Forum.
“At JANM’s Daniel K. Inouye National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, we convene people of all backgrounds to engage questions of democracy, justice, and accountability,” Burroughs said. “Today, the question of what state and local governments can do to stop ICE’s attacks on immigrant communities and to hold them to account could not be more urgent.”
Burroughs introduced González as “a courageous and principled leader at a moment when leadership matters.”
The assemblyman described JANM as “a place that is personal for me as this is where I had my community swearing-in and a place that holds memory, truth, and warning.
“This is not just a venue. This is a witness. Because this museum reminds us what happens when fear replaces law, when government power goes unchecked, and when entire communities are criminalized — not for what they’ve done, but for who they are.
“We are here today because history is knocking — and California refuses to answer with silence.”
The press conference was held near the former home of Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, where Japanese Americans boarded buses bound for the camps.
“Where we are standing today matters,” González said. “Right here, our government once justified the incarceration of Japanese Americans, families, elders, children, ripped from their homes and imprisoned not for crimes, but for fear. They [the government] called it security.
History calls it injustice.
“We are also standing at the very site where Proposition 50 was announced — where I joined Gov. Newsom and my colleagues to announce we are taking back our country — while, at the very same moment, immigration raids were unfolding. Speeches about power, while families were being torn apart.
“And today — right here, in this same epicenter — while we gather to say ‘Never again,’ history is repeating itself in real time.”
González cited recent examples: “Federal immigration agents have kidnapped a fruit and flower vendor in Boyle Heights. They have dragged a man from his apartment — without a warrant, without cause, against his will. They have taken people off our streets while masked, unidentified, refusing to say who they are or who they answer to … Not in the shadows of history, but in broad daylight.
“That is not law enforcement. That is state-sanctioned terror.”
Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez explains his GTFO (Get the Feds Out) bill, which would “bar anyone who has participated or engaged in immigration enforcement activity from being employed as a state, county, or local public employee.”
González explained the rationale behind the bill: “Today, we fight with legislation. In partnership with Speaker Robert Rivas, I am introducing a bill that draws a clear and moral line in California. We are calling it like we see it and feel it – the GTFO ICE bill — Get the Feds Out. Because California will not be a refuge for federal abuse of power.
“If you participated in cruel, baseless immigration enforcement — if you violated civil rights, ignored due process, or followed unlawful orders — You will not be welcomed into California’s public workforce.
“This bill disqualifies individuals who engaged in immigration enforcement activity between Jan. 1, 2025 and Jan. 20, 2029 from holding state, county, or local public employment in California. That includes police officers, teachers, judges, social workers, school safety officers, civil servants — anyone entrusted with the care, safety, and well-being of our communities …
“If you chose to terrorize communities instead of serve them, California will not reward you with a public paycheck.”
He added that the bill includes “a carve-out for conduct already permissible under SB 54 — California’s landmark law protecting community trust. This is not about punishing lawful conduct. This is about accountability …
“This is about safeguarding the integrity of California’s public agencies. It’s about ensuring that the people entrusted with power in this state believe in the rule of law — not rule by fear …
“The Japanese incarceration camps were legal. They were authorized. They were enforced by people ‘just doing their jobs.’ And that is exactly why California is drawing a line now.”
Other speakers included State Sen. Maria Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles), CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles) Executive Director Angelica Salas, and Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, whose district includes Little Tokyo and Boyle Heights.
“You do not get to build your career on the suffering of our families,” said Jurado. “Anyone complicit in kidnapping our neighbors and terrorizing entire communities has no business calling themselves a public servant. This bill will hold those who think they can get away with it accountable.”
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