Many community members vehemently voiced their distrust for local police agencies – and even accused them of assisting immigration raids – during a recent forum hosted by the City of San Fernando and law enforcement officials.
During the nearly two-hour meeting at San Fernando Recreation Park, several community members asked to address their questions directly to the panelists, who included San Fernando Police Chief Fabian Valdez, representatives of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and LA Sheriff’s Department (LASD), legal experts, community leaders and local city councilmembers.
Instead, residents were required to submit written questions and quietly listen to the panelists’ responses as questions were read.
Community Forum Concerns
“How is this a community forum?” asked one frustrated resident after San Fernando City Mayor Joel Fajardo and Councilmember Mary Solorio told the audience they were trying to get through as many questions as possible from the written submissions, but acknowledged they were unlikely to get to most of them. Others in the audience chimed in with similar complaints.
One person said there should have been a microphone set up to allow community members to address the panelists directly, to allow a back-and-forth dialogue between them.
“You’re not listening to us,” added another resident.
“This group right here will not dictate how we will run this meeting,” said the event facilitator, retired Police Chief John Perez of the Pasadena Police Department, who stood up in front of the table of panelists and the residents sitting in rows of chairs. His stern warning caused a more contentious environment.
Residents, unhappy with the format, made comments and called out their questions to the panelists. The room was set up for residents to sit as an audience and passively listen to the panelists respond to submitted questions rather than speak directly and engage with the panel.
“Interrupt the meeting, we’re going to ask you to leave,” said Perez. “[If] you won’t leave, the meeting will end.”
“You’re not going to listen to the community?” another community member shouted out.
“These are not the community’s questions [being answered],” she claimed. “These are questions you prepared for yourself. … This is why the community doesn’t trust you. You can’t even have a conversation.”
When Fajardo read one of the questions to the panel – “Why do the LAPD and San Fernando PD facilitate ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids?” – one community member in the audience interjected, “What are you guys going to do when they murder us?”
“The San Fernando Police Department does not enforce immigration law. … [We] do not help ICE,” said Valdez, adding that they focus on maintaining peace and order. “The San Fernando community expects its police department to maintain public safety. That is our role.”
“You’re failing,” replied a community member from the audience.
Immigration Enforcement Questions
The panelists answered several other questions regarding local immigration enforcement, including, “Why can’t the police stop ICE from assaulting and killing people?”
“With respect to following the law, the federal government operates under federal law,” said Valdez, adding that people should be “asking our federal elected officials what … accountability systems are in place” to file complaints and investigate misconduct by federal law enforcement.
“It is not the municipal government’s role or position to be policing federal agents – that is done through Congress, that is done through legislation, that is done at the federal level,” he added.
LASD Chief Hugo Macias acknowledged that some people may be reluctant to report crimes they’ve experienced or witnessed due to the current “environment,” including ICE agents apprehending immigrants when they show up at courthouses for routine immigration hearings.
“We certainly understand that [people] who are witnesses … [who] we would need to help us prosecute crimes, could feel hesitant about coming to court … because of the actions that are going on,” said Macias. “Although I’m not walking in their shoes … [if] there’s a crime you can help stop, don’t hesitate to call 9-1-1, otherwise that might perpetuate the criminal [activity].”
Reading another question from the audience, Perez asked, “What do you do with reports of people being taken by federal agents in unmarked cars?”
“It’s obviously been a difficult year, and we have responded to many incidents … [of] folks calling us to report potential kidnappings,” replied LAPD Valley Bureau Deputy Chief Marla Ciuffetelli, admitting that it can be difficult to verify whether reported incidents involve actual federal agents, in part due to face coverings.
“If you see something that you are not sure is a law enforcement operation, that doesn’t seem legitimate … call us and we will get out there [and] attempt to make contact with the agents, verify that they are, in fact, federal law enforcement [and] document the license plates on the cars,” continued Ciuffetelli. “If there are any suspicious circumstances, we will take the report documenting potential kidnapping and do follow-ups to investigate them.”
Constitutional Rights
Jessica Carbonari with the Guatemalan Unity Information Agency stressed that every person residing on U.S. soil has constitutional rights, regardless of their immigration status.
“[Whether] you have committed a crime or not, if [authorities] knock on your door, you don’t have to open the door to them, because once you do, you are no longer protected by the Fourth Amendment” – which protects personal privacy against government intrusion, said Carbonari.
If they have a warrant, you must open the door, she added. “But before you do, you can ask to see the warrant” – either through a window or by having them slide it under the door, she said.
Carbonari also discussed Miranda rights – which are rooted in the Fifth Amendment, to help ensure due process. They include the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney. But, she warned, these rights are not automatic; a person must verbally invoke them, multiple times if necessary.
“You have to say, ‘I invoke my right to an attorney.’ You must say, ‘I invoke my right to remain silent’ – and once you do that, you must remain silent,” she said. But if you speak to ask to go to the bathroom while in custody, for example, afterward you must invoke your rights once again.
If a person is stopped by authorities while driving, they should be prepared to show their driver’s license, car registration and insurance, because “driving is a privilege,” said Carbonari. But if you’re approached while walking on the streets, “they cannot stop you for just any reason.”
“They can’t ask you or force you [to show] ID,” continued Carbonari. “If they keep insisting on it, then you just have to say, ‘Am I free to go?’ … They have to have a reasonable suspicion or probable cause to [detain] you. … If they [do], then you do have to show them [your] ID.
“If you’re not a U.S. citizen,” she said, “you have to carry on you, at all times, proof of status.”
After the forum, a group of mostly younger residents gathered outside and had a discussion of their own.