As Santa Ana reckons with a $16 million budget shortfall, the police and city officials on Tuesday reported that around $500,000 was spent responding to anti-ICE protests last summer \u2014 and that legal claims filed by protesters could push that cost even higher.<\/p>\n
Around $400,000 of that amount was spent over four days last year \u2014 June 9, 10, 11 and 14 \u2014 when residents descended on the downtown area to protest ramped up immigration enforcement actions under the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
City Attorney Sonia Carvalho said during Tuesday\u2019s City Council meeting that the city has received four claims and one lawsuit stemming from the police department\u2019s actions during the protests.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear how much the claims could end up costing the city.<\/p>\n
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Call from the DOJ<\/p>\n
Robert Rodriguez, Santa Ana\u2019s police chief, said officers were sent out during the first day of protests after Carvalho received a call from the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n
\u200a\u201dIt wasn’t in a threatening manner, but it was basically if your department cannot provide the security that we need, then we’re going to bring in federal resources,\u201d she said. \u201cWe had a discussion about what that might look like in terms of safety for our community and what that would mean to people in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when the police department made the decision to send in officers.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez said the department was \u201c\u200atrying to create some distance between our community and the federal officers.\u201d<\/p>\n
How we got here<\/p>\n
Last June, protesters took to the streets across Southern California calling out the ramped-up immigration sweeps across the region. This prompted the Trump administration to send in the military and the National Guard, further inflaming tensions.<\/p>\n
But the ensuing local police response during the protests also drew the ire of residents and community members, particularly in Los Angeles<\/a> and Santa Ana<\/a>.<\/p>\n