{"id":41372,"date":"2025-11-06T21:05:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T21:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/41372\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T21:05:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T21:05:08","slug":"citing-a-tight-budget-fullerton-city-council-votes-against-immigrant-relief-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/41372\/","title":{"rendered":"Citing a tight budget, Fullerton City Council votes against immigrant relief funds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fullerton won\u2019t be following Santa Ana, Anaheim<\/a> or Costa Mesa\u2019s<\/a> lead in establishing immigrant relief funds in response to federal deportation raids.<\/p>\n

A slim council majority Tuesday rejected a proposal to allocate $100,000 for a legal defense fund against deportations and another $100,000 to help nonprofits distribute economic relief to impacted families.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re discussing today is not about justice,\u201d Councilmember Nick Dunlap said. \u201cThis is about funding. The reality is our city can\u2019t afford the additional commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposals, spearheaded by Councilmember Ahmad Zahra, were placed on Tuesday\u2019s agenda at the council\u2019s direction last month.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, councilmembers began the conversation by grappling with Fullerton\u2019s finances. The general fund reserves total $30.8 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in a healthy margin,\u201d Zahra said.<\/p>\n

The city budgeted an operating deficit of $3.8 million for the current fiscal year, a figure that could nearly triple next year, Fullerton budget and purchasing manager Steve Avalos reported to council.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Jamie Valencia asked what city programs couldn\u2019t be funded last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re deficient in road repair,\u201d said Interim City Manager Eddie Manfro. \u201cWe\u2019re short-staffed in library and parks. There\u2019s any number of things the city does not do for lack of funds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Pro Tem Shana Charles noted Fullerton formed a fiscal sustainability committee that is looking at two half-cent sales tax initiatives to shore up its finances around infrastructure and public safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose two sales taxes combined would give us so much more flexibility,\u201d she said. \u201cI know that\u2019s something we\u2019re going to be looking at in the next year. I\u2019m really glad that we\u2019re getting this wonderful holistic look at our financial picture as we\u2019re moving into this discussion about what would be, by my calculations, less than 1% of our current reserves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

One out of every six residents in Fullerton are part of a mixed-immigration-status family, according to new data estimates.<\/p>\n

(Gabriel San Rom\u00e1n)<\/p>\n

Dozens of pro-immigrant activists challenged the budget arguments and pleaded with councilmembers over hours of public comments to establish the funds in Fullerton, a diverse city where Latinos form the largest ethnic group.<\/p>\n

Prior to the meeting, the USC Equity Research Institute published data<\/a> in the Fullerton Observer showing that about 10,000 Fullerton residents are undocumented. One out of every six residents in the city are part of a mixed-immigration-status family, according to the new data estimates. <\/p>\n

Far from being recent arrivals, three-quarters of undocumented Fullerton residents have lived in the U.S. for a decade or longer. <\/p>\n

Several activists attending Tuesday\u2019s meeting focused on Valencia as the potential swing vote. She represents Fullerton\u2019s 4th District, a southwestern swath of the city that is heavily Latino.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see what the point of fixing critical infrastructure is if Fullertonians are no longer here to use it,\u201d Tanya Leon, a longtime District 4 resident and programs manager for the Orange County Justice Fund, told the council. \u201cOur District 4 residents are being removed. It makes no difference to me if my streets are better if my neighbors can\u2019t use them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the summer, federal immigration agents have repeatedly swept Fullerton Car Wash. Agents have also raided day laborers gathered near Sam\u2019s Club and Home Depot parking lots. <\/p>\n

Zahra stated that, as an immigrant, he carries his passport on him with the ongoing raids and supported the funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not going to impact us,\u201d Zahra said. \u201cWe can weather this is small amount of money. These are what reserve funds are, for these times to help our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Dunlap pointed to Fullerton neighborhoods without street lights and roads so in disrepair that residents can\u2019t ride their bikes on them.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the city\u2019s financial and limited financial resources, it seems extra divisive,\u201d he said. \u201cIf there were additional funds available, they should be going to serve our entire community and not a particular group of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valencia didn\u2019t have any questions about the funds toward the end of the discussion. Jung moved to table discussion of the funds afterward.<\/p>\n

Charles interjected to have, at least, a resolution included on the agenda expressing support for state and federal legislation to unmask federal immigrant agents pass, but Jung declined to add that to his motion.<\/p>\n

Councilmembers rejected the funds and resolution by a 3-2 vote, with Zahra and Charles voting in opposition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fullerton won\u2019t be following Santa Ana, Anaheim or Costa Mesa\u2019s lead in establishing immigrant relief funds in response…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28021,163,165,164,1409,179,2323,2331,18437,2628,6228,28020,8076,16976,288,22348,68,28019],"class_list":["post-41372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-agenda","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-city","tag-community","tag-council","tag-councilmember","tag-discussion","tag-fullerton","tag-fund","tag-immigrant-relief-fund","tag-infrastructure","tag-meeting","tag-resident","tag-road-repair","tag-tuesday","tag-zahra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41372","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=41372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}