Fullerton City Council voted on Tuesday to table a resolution to establish funds for legal defense and basic needs assistance for those affected by Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, despite the city’s financial department revealing a “healthy” reserve level.
Each fund would have been allocated $100,000 to support immigration assistance programs in response to federal immigration enforcement activities.
Councilmember Ahmad Zahra and Mayor Pro Tem Shana Charles initially motioned in favor of passing the resolution, but were substituted by Mayor Fred Jung’s motion to table it. The council then voted 3-2 in favor of tabling the resolution, with council members Nicholas Dunlap and Jamie Valencia voting yes along with Jung, while Zahra and Charles voted no.
The vote to table the resolution followed after city representatives revealed the current financial reports from the city.
The city of Fullerton’s total general fund reserve balance is $30.8 million, maintaining the 17% reserve levels of the city’s annual operating expenditures according to Steven Avalos, the budget and purchasing manager for the city of Fullerton. In contrast to these reserves, the city is still operating at a deficit that is projected to increase annually.
“Our operating deficit for fiscal year 25-26 is $3.8 million,” Avalos said. “For next year, it’s projected to increase to about $9.4 million, and over the next three, four years, that’ll increase even further to about $10 million.”
Eddie Manfro, the interim Fullerton city manager, also shared why the city might be hesitant to access these funds.
“In general – kind of by definition – we try not to use reserves, we try to keep them in reserve. The 17% target is a good, healthy target,” Manfro said. “Cities that are in a weak revenue position, it’s wise to keep large reserves, because if that cash flow is not coming in, we would then have to dip into it.”
Bianca Andres, a third-year sociology major at Cal State Fullerton and member of the OC Rapid Response Network, underscored how the fear that is affecting communities across the county should outweigh these budgetary guidelines.
“As a student, I’ve had friends tell me they’re scared to go out, scared to even protest peacefully to exercise their basic rights as a citizen — why? Because of ICE,” Andres said. “This is an emergency, and we need to treat it like one.”
Charles also addressed the council prior to the vote, sharing how minimal these allocations are in the scope of the budget, yet how impactful they could be for the people in the Fullerton community.
“The limited funds that we are talking about are to help anyone in the city who’s been targeted, harassed and illegally detained by ICE,” Charles said. “It’s different now, because right now, we have a federal agency that, for the first time, is actively disregarding the Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.”
Dunlap disagreed with Charles that these funds would benefit the community as a whole, sharing his own reasoning guiding his decision.
“I think a lot of folks … have expressed their concerns over this being a particularly divisive matter because given the city’s limited financial resources,” Dunlap said. “If there were additional funds available, they should be going to serve our entire community, and not a particular group of our community, so, unfortunately, I can’t be supportive.”