Councilmembers voted unanimously on the measure, joining more than a dozen cities across the United States with similar provisions.
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to undertake a major deportation operation of people in the country illegally, starting with those who have committed violent crimes.
“We're going to send a very clear message that the city of Los Angeles will not cooperate with ICE in any way,” said councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Soto-Martinez, one of the councilmembers who introduced the initial motion last year, said his parents and many of his constituents are illegal immigrants.
Former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti issued an executive directive in 2019 that offered protections to immigrants, but Tuesday’s ordinance would codify those protections into city law.
The state of California has similar protections. Former California Gov. Jerry Brown signed sanctuary state legislation in 2017 to bar police from asking people about their immigration status or participating in federal immigration enforcement activities.
New York City is also a sanctuary city, however Mayor Eric Adams has recently called for expanded cooperation between local police and federal immigration authorities, attacking the current city policies limiting such communication as detrimental to public safety.
