Long Beach has joined other cities, state legislatures, and members of Congress nationwide to demand the impeachment of Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, as well as federal immigration accountability.<\/p>\n
While many residents agreed that this was a first step in what local officials could do to stand against increased federal immigration enforcement, people continued to demand more from their local leaders to better protect the city\u2019s immigrant community and have U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement leave Long Beach.<\/p>\n
The City Council on Tuesday, Feb. 3, unanimously voted to move forward with drafting a resolution calling for federal agents to be held accountable, Noem to be impeached, and current immigrant enforcement policies to end because, the staff report said, they subject local communities to violence and harm. The resolution, the staff report said, will also affirm \u201cthe city\u2019s commitment to protecting civil rights, community trust and the dignity of all residents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPoor leadership at DHS has real local consequences, eroding trust, destabilizing families and making it harder for cities like Long Beach to keep all of our residents safe and supported,\u201d Mayor Rex Richardson said during the council meeting. \u201cLong Beach stands with our immigrant communities here and across the nation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe affirm that no one is above accountability, especially those responsible for the atrocities and horrors that we\u2019ve witnessed the last few weeks and months, not only in Minneapolis, but all across the country,\u201d he added. \u201cLeadership that causes harm must be held to account so that change can follow.\u201d<\/p>\n
City officials said that federal immigration enforcement activities in recent months, including workplace arrest operations and large-scale enforcement actions in residential areas within Long Beach, Los Angeles County and across the nation have generated significant community concern.<\/p>\n
Long Beach\u2019s resolution comes after recent enforcement actions in Minnesota and California, including the fatal shootings of Renee Nicole Good, Alex Pretti and Keith Porter Jr., who were killed by federal law enforcement officers<\/p>\n
There have also been medical neglect, excessive force, prolonged detention and systemic oversight failures within federal immigration detention facilities, city officials said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn increasing number of immigrant residents have died while in federal immigration detention, during enforcement actions or while in DHS custody,\u201d the city\u2019s staff report said. \u201cThese circumstances demonstrate leadership failures that have placed enforcement objectives above human life and dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Long Beach\u2019s resolution, Richardson said, would support the growing number of members of the House of Representatives and other federal lawmakers \u2013 such as Rep. Robert Garcia<\/a> \u2013 who have introduced articles of impeachment and publicly called for Noem\u2019s impeachment. There have also been violations of due process rights, the assault and detention of non-violent civilians by federal agents and breaches of public trust, officials said.<\/p>\n The immediate adoption of the resolution is necessary, officials said, to communicate the city\u2019s position to federal officials formally and to demonstrate solidarity with affected community members.<\/p>\n The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment about Long Beach\u2019s resolution or plans for impeachment proceedings for Noem.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Trump administration has repeatedly defended the operations, saying they are necessary to make the nation safe, characterizing the people ICE arrests as dangerous criminals,\u201d Noem said on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday, Feb. 1. \u201cBut immigration advocates and officials across Los Angeles County have decried such characterizations, saying ICE is detaining hard-working members of the community \u2014 and, in some cases, U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Department of Homeland Security is focused on enforcing the law and keeping America safe,\u201d she added. \u201cThat\u2019s our mission. We are deporting criminal illegal aliens across the country, improving the most secure border in American history and keeping the American people safe and secure from terror threats and natural disasters.\u201d<\/p>\n Long Beach is home to a diverse population that includes immigrants, which comprises a quarter of the city\u2019s population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau<\/a>.<\/p>\n During Tuesday\u2019s meeting, councilmembers expressed their concerns with federal immigration enforcement locally, such as destabilizing families, weakening neighborhoods and making communities feel less safe.<\/p>\n \u201cThese times ask that we, we the people, demand more from our federal government,\u201d First District Councilmember Mary Zendejas said. \u201cThis item says it loud and clear, no more. No more kidnappings, no more fear, no more racism, no more deaths, no more unconstitutional actions by federal agents.\u201d<\/p>\n Councilmembers, such as Ninth District Councilmember Joni Ricks-Oddie, also thanked the advocates, organizers and community members who have continued to speak out and go to council meetings to advocate for Long Beach\u2019s immigrant community.<\/p>\n \u201cThis conversation is happening because residents demanded accountability and refused to accept delay or silence that civic engagement matters and exactly how local government should work,\u201d Ricks-Oddie said. \u201cI represent a council district of one of the largest immigrant populations in our city. Families in my district are living in uncertainty and fear. Parents worry about being separated from their children. Workers worry about whether they will come home at night. The level of fear erodes trust in government and undermines public safety for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Councilmember Kristina Duggan, meanwhile, said that while she supports law enforcement and the rule of law, she opposes the way federal officers have operated.<\/p>\n \u201cI also support laws that protect people\u2019s rights to move through their communities without federal interference when there is no reason to believe they have committed a crime, regardless of ideology,\u201d Duggan said. \u201cThe practices actually being implemented have opened the doors for anyone, including U.S. citizens, to be harmed by agents with minimal training and limited oversight. Our standards for constitutional protections should not be lower simply because the badge is federal.\u201d<\/p>\n During public comment, many residents said this was a small, but good, first step to stop the ongoing federal immigration enforcement in Long Beach.<\/p>\n \u201cThis resolution is a very, very small piece and first step to recognizing the escalating violence for over a year now and terrorization for over a year now,\u201d said Francesca, a Long Beach resident who did not disclose her surname. \u201cThat is why this is a good first step, small step, but we need to abolish ICE. Abolish ICE is the only way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n People also demanded that local leaders be more proactive and do more to protect immigrant communities, such as broadcasting where and when ICE is mobilizing, officially documenting confirmed ICE activity, and confirming that the Long Beach Police Department is not cooperating with ICE.<\/p>\n Local immigrant rights organizations, such as \u00d3rale and the Filipino Migrant Center, have continuously demanded more from Long Beach\u2019s elected officials as well.<\/p>\n They want the council, for example, to further strengthen the Long Beach Values Act \u2014 the city\u2019s policy that states it will not engage in or allocate city resources toward immigration enforcement \u2014 and remove exclusions from the act so all immigrants are protected. Organizers also want the city to ban surveillance technology in the city and prohibit the use of public city spaces for immigrant enforcement, including staging.<\/p>\n In 2025, the city reaffirmed and strengthened the Values Act twice, expanding resources to support immigrant residents, and enhancing legal defense, rapid response and community education efforts in response to escalated federal enforcement activities. The mayor and council also allocated more than $5 million to the \u201cDefending Our Long Beach Values<\/a>\u201d plan in its fiscal year 2026 budget.<\/p>\n \u201cIf folks really, truly want to stop ICE, we have to look at every legal ability, including direct action to the president and the secretary, legal action, Supreme Court lawsuits, litigation, all steps the city of Long Beach has taken and is continuing to take,\u201d Richardson said. \u201cIf what people truly want to see is to stop ICE in our cities, these are essential steps. This is just one; by no means is this all the steps. This is one important step that we have to take.\u201d<\/p>\n The resolution will return to the City Council for final approval, according to the staff report. Upon adoption, the resolution will be sent to members of the California congressional delegation, California\u2019s U.S. senators, and other appropriate federal, state and local entities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long Beach has joined other cities, state legislatures, and members of Congress nationwide to demand the impeachment of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,1610,14,23,131,133,132,137],"class_list":["post-165847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-california","tag-city-council","tag-immigration","tag-local-news","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-los-angeles-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}