Pico Rivera council unanimously authorizes joining Los Angeles lawsuit over federal immigration enforcement; discusses local legal defense fund

The Pico Rivera City Council voted unanimously June 24 to authorize the city attorney’s office to join a lawsuit that the City of Los Angeles intends to file challenging federal immigration enforcement tactics, including operations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Mayor Garcia made the motion asking the city attorney to “take all the necessary steps to join in this litigation,” and the measure passed on a 5-0 roll call. Council members who voted yes were Council member Lara, Council member Lutz, Council member Dr. Sanchez, Mayor Pro Tem Camacho and Mayor Garcia.

The vote followed a detailed presentation and public comment about recent enforcement activity in Pico Rivera and the wider Los Angeles region. City Manager Steve Carmona told the council that ICE agents had been active in the city in recent days and that a small number of residents were detained, including a resident, Adrian Martinez, who Carmona said is a U.S. citizen; Carmona said Martinez was released and now has legal representation. Carmona reported two subsequent community protests that he described as peaceful and said the city had posted multilingual resources and set up a secure video upload portal for residents to share footage.

Immigration attorney Juliana Garcia…