09 Apr Richmond Approves ICE-Free Zones, $99 Million in Youth Funding

Richmond City Council on Tuesday approved creating ICE-free zones on city property and extending funding for the Richmond Fund for Children and Youth. (Screenshot captured by Samantha Kennedy / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

President Donald Trump’s ramped-up immigration enforcement has meant the illegal deployment of the National Guard and citywide curfews as protests and raids escalated in Los Angeles. In Minnesota, two U.S. citizens were fatally shot by immigration officers during a surge of enforcement. Just last month, a Richmond resident and her daughter were arrested at San Francisco International Airport and deported to Guatemala.

Richmond leaders say they want to be prepared locally if Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers come.

Council members on Tuesday unanimously approved ordinance changes to create “ICE-free” zones that ban federal immigration activities from taking place on property owned or operated by the city. Use of city property as a staging area, processing area or operational base for civil enforcement is banned under the ordinance.

The move, which still must be adopted in a second reading April 21, is the latest by the Richmond City Council to increase protections for Contra Costa County’s largest share of immigrants. Council members directed staff to make the changes at a February meeting.

Council member Claudia Jimenez, who co-sponsored the ordinance with Vice Mayor Doria Robinson, said it sends a clear message of protection to community members.

“We may think that nothing is happening; things are happening,” said Jimenez about the woman and her daughter deported from SFO, who she said were from Richmond. “This is a good way to strengthen [the] power of what we can do to protect our community.”

For decades, Richmond has been a sanctuary city for immigrant communities, limiting staff cooperation with immigration activities. The Police Department is also bound by those limits.

Officials also set aside $1 million for immigration legal support last year, soon after Trump took office and vowed to increase immigration enforcement.

The ordinance applies to “real or personal property owned, leased, operated, or controlled” by the city, including offices, parking lots, vacant lots and buildings. It would also include the creation of a public communication plan if there is verifiable immigration enforcement in the city.

When Jimenez asked how RPD would enforce the ordinance, Police Chief Tim Simmons said that they would ask them to leave.

“Pretty plain and simply,” said Simmons.

Simmons said that if immigration officers were, for example, breaking the vehicle code on a street or sidewalk, they would be asked to correct that. Simmons added that officers are not going to get in a confrontation with another law enforcement agency but would document it and forward it to the necessary city department.

Pinole, the West Contra Costa Unified School District, San Jose and Alameda County also have ICE-free zones.

The ordinance will go into effect 30 days after the second approval.

$99 Million in Youth Funding for Next Decade

Youth and their advocates dominated the last two City Council meetings with calls to support the extension of funding for youth programs totaling $99 million through the fiscal year 2027-28.

That proved to pay off.

The City Council unanimously approved extending funding for the Richmond Fund for Children and Youth, which was established in 2018 to use 3% of the city’s unrestricted fund for youth programming annually.

Council members considered three options before deciding to keep the annual 3% contribution. If council members had decided on another option — one of which could have meant changes to the annual contribution percentage — then voters would have had to approve the changes in an election.

Voters approved Measures E and K back in 2018, which resulted in the creation of the fund and required some general fund revenue to be earmarked for youth programming. The funding was set to expire in 2028.

The programming, available to those up to 24 years old, can cover violence prevention, artistic and cultural education or expression, mental health and job training through nonprofits.

“These are really important safe spaces, activities for them. I’m a licensed clinical social worker; it doesn’t take a license to understand the importance of safe spaces for our youth,” said Ruthie Dineen, executive director of the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, which has received funding.

From 2018 through the end of 2028, the city’s allocation to the fund will total $48.2 million, according to a staff report. With the continuation of funding, that same report shows that funding will be at least $9.29 million per year.

The fund is overseen by a 15-member oversight board, with up to eight seats meant for youth members.

Mayor Eduardo Martinez raised questions about what he said were two organizations that received funding between 2021 and 2023 that fell within “explicitly prohibited categories.”

Martinez said the concerns didn’t mean that he was questioning the impact of the services, only that he was upholding his fiduciary responsibility to oversee the funds.

Those two organizations, Richmond Promise and the library, are typically ineligible to receive funding, but can if they are working with a nonprofit, according to Patrick Seals, the administrative chief of the department of youth and children.

“Although on their own they are excluded from an application, if they are working with a nonprofit to provide services, they meet the exception and then are eligible to apply and ultimately eligible to receive funding,” said Seals.

If the decision were left up to voters, Robinson said she would be concerned it wouldn’t pass.

“It may fail considering the environment that we’re in and all the demands on people’s money,” said Robinson. “I want to protect this work, and I want to protect the impact.”

Voters could have been asked to pass the measure along with a number of tax measures in the June election, including a countywide sales tax.